Tears of a Clown
by Angel Dove1
Summary: When two unlikely people meet again, will they find comfort in each other? What happens when Jou's troubles become too extreme and involves Kaiba? Would they ever get together? Yaoi M/M N/C Warnings per chapter
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh or any of the characters. If I do you would defiantly believe that Atemu would return to Yugi and Seto and Jou would be together. I also do not own the title of this story. It was based of the song Tears of a Clown sung by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

A little story before I get this started. This was supposed to be an oneshot story two months ago. Then I was supposed to be working on a longer story for this vacation I am on now. LOL well that went screaming out the door. Before I realized what I was doing, this story took life of its own and it was twenty-five pages long. A little too long for an oneshot huh? So I decided to make this a personal game with myself. I'm going to beat all my little records, longest running story, longest word on a chapter, longest word for a story.

The title of this story was meant for the oneshot but I noticed that even now when I'm much further in the story the title still matches.

Okay that's enough for the little story. Now for the serious. This story has a lot of elements in it. It's dark but hopeful, sad but romantic. At the beginning of each chapter I will put the warnings. One chapter may be hard for some people to read but I'll tell you which one that is at the beginning. So please, read the warnings at the start of each chapter. Now that I'm done ranting let's get this started.

Warnings: None in this one it's just a little depressing.

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Chapter One

Jou walked carefully down the snow covered street. He carried with him a CD player that was being held together by a long strip of medical tape. The same song played over and over again, not that the blond minded. It was his favorite song. He slipped and dropped the CD player, causing his CD to spring from the fragile case and land in the snow bank. Jou frowned and leaned down to pick everything up. The CD looked undamaged besides being wet, but his player was finally beyond repair. He sat down in the snow, attempting to piece together the puzzle he once called his CD player. Frustrated with not being able to fix it, Jou threw it against the nearby wall and pulled his legs up to his chest. He slowly chanted a familiar phrase in his head, "I will not cry."

Life had never been easy for the blond, but he was an excellent actor. No one has ever seen him frown. He hid behind his smile and clowned around during class even though all he wanted to do was curl in the corner and cry. Jou sighed and hit his head off the side of the building. He'd be finally graduating, having to spend an extra few months in school due to him missing many days. Thankfully he wasn't spending it in his old school. It'd be more embarrassing going with the students younger than him. Even though it was more expensive than just going to the public school, Jou was determined not to draw more attention to his failure, especially in front of his friends.

A cold chill drew Jou's attention. He rose and started back down the street to his job. He hated working at the restaurant as a waiter. People were extremely rude and needed to have things done their way. Occasionally he would meet respectable people. Those he cherished and made sure that everything was done perfectly for them. They always tipped nicely. Jou huddled closely in his thin jacket. His warmer jacket was torn and bloody from one of his father's attacks. Not able to get too many hours at his works, Jou was forced to endure the cold air without any warmth to protect him.

He finally made it to the restaurant in time for the evening rush. His boss was instantly on him. "Where have you been? You're late!" Jou glanced at the clock, noting that he was only two minutes late. He sighed, but didn't fight his boss. The man could fire him at any second. He grabbed his apron and walked over to the set of tables that was assigned to him. The entire night went by quickly with the greeters constantly double seating him. He didn't mind, it just meant more tip money for him. He was sure it was his boss's fault, but he'd never let on that it never bothered him. It meant that he might be able to afford a warmer jacket with his next check. The night moved on with the crowd slimming.

There was only one person left in his section, and that woman was leaving in a few seconds. Jou glanced up at the clock. It was five minutes before closing. The kitchen was starting to close. Most of the waitresses and waiters were already gone, leaving just him, the greeter, and the kitchen staff. He was always the unlucky one that had to stay to close. Again, he never cared. It meant more time out of the house, and he could use the "work excuse" on his father. Jou rubbed his left sided, remembering the latest bruise from his father.

Cleaning his last guest's plates off, Jou noticed the greeter fussing over someone that just entered the building. He sighed and informed the kitchen that someone just walked in. A chorus of moans greeted his ears as he left and walked over to the only person in the building. He reached into his apron and retrieved his pad and pen. "My name is Jou, and I'll be your waiter today," Jou said with his usual dead voice. He never got excited anymore. He saw no point to it.

"Mutt, you going to be fine with this. You sound like you can drop at any second?" Jou blinked and finally looked at his guest. He didn't know what was more shocking, the worry in Kaiba's eyes, or the fact that he was here alone in a low class restaurant.

"I'll be fine," Jou responded, cursing his bad luck. He didn't want to pretend to be happy. "What can I get you to drink?"

"A coffee no cream."

Jou moved away from Kaiba and walked over to the touch screen. He input the information and disappeared to the kitchen to get a fresh cup of coffee. "It's Seto Kaiba. Don't mess anything up," he informed the staff. He knew Kaiba's name would scare them into not pulling their usual pranks on the last minute guest. He normally would be all for it, but Kaiba seemed more tired than normal. He was acting too nice.

He returned with the coffee and set it down in front of Kaiba. The older male did look like a mess with his hair out of place and the usual cold blue eyes were red around the rim. "Why didn't you just go home?" Jou asked, curious on Kaiba's choice to eat first instead of going right to sleep.

Kaiba sighed. "Too hungry to sleep. I just want spaghetti and salad with no dressing. After you put in the order, come back and sit."

Confused by Kaiba's request, Jou quickly placed the order in and sat down in front of Kaiba. "What's with you? You look like shit."

"Thank you, Mutt. I enjoy hearing that." Kaiba sighed and placed his head down on the table. Everything seemed out of place with the CEO.

"Seriously. Are you okay?"

"Are you worried about me? That's a change."

"Will you stop doing that? Answering a question with a question. Maybe I'm just concern about you because I don't want to stay after for a long time while I wait for an ambulance."

Kaiba rubbed his tired eyes. "I know I don't look that bad."

"You should look in the mirror more. For someone who cares about his image so much, you look terrible."

Kaiba growled and shot his head up. "Who said I cared what people thought of me? They can all go to hell for thinking that I was a robot more than a person."

Shocked by Kaiba's sudden emotion, Jou stood. "Let me get your food so you can go to sleep, Mr. Crabby." Jou ran off quickly to the kitchen, not sure why he cared about Kaiba. The man truly scared him. The kitchen was cleaning everything as he returned for the salad and spaghetti. "You can go. I'll handle the rest," he said walking over to the pot of coffee.

Slamming the dishes down on the table, Jou felt slightly guilty for scaring the half asleep CEO. "Thank you," Kaiba mumbled, reaching for the salad first. He was surprised to see Jou sitting back down and refilling his cup of coffee. "How long have you worked here?"

"Since the start of my senior year."

"Why weren't you at graduation?"

"I didn't graduate. I have to take an extra semester to make up for all the days I missed." He didn't know why he answered Kaiba's question honestly.

"Why didn't you just tell them that it was because your father beats you?" Shocked, Jou was speechless. "What? You thought that you were hiding. Please I did a better job at it than you."

"You were abused too?"

"Everyday until my stepfather took a dive out the window. What a blessings from the gods that was."

"Do you even understand what you're saying?"

"I'm not ashamed to be a survivor," Kaiba chorused as if he has been saying that for years or brainwashed into saying it. "I took everything and kept Mokuba safe, happy, and spoiled. I'll do it again and again if it means that he'll never wake up with nightmares and will always smile unlike his older brother."

Jou sat there unable to speak. He couldn't believe that the strong willed CEO was a victim of abuse and knew that he was. This was something he never thought in a million years that he'd ever hear from Kaiba. The burnet continued to eat as if nothing he said affected him. "Does Mokuba know?"

Kaiba shrugged. "We never talked about it. Are you still hiding bruises?" Jou turned away. He knew that as long as he stayed in that house he'll continue to hide bruises. Kaiba huffed. "When is it enough, Jou? Do you enjoy the pain and suffering he puts you through? Why don't you ask for help?"

"As if someone like me could ever get help. I don't want to be a burden to anyone, and the police would never believe me. They still keep a close eye on me thinking I'm going to cause chaos even though I haven't been in a gang for years. No one would believe me."

"Why do you think I never talked about it either? Who would believe that the CEO of the strongest company who adopted two children would abuse the eldest? He had so many people that kissed the ground he walked on. It's disgusting what these sick people get away with. Why can't you live on your own?"

Jou rolled his eyes. "Until I graduate I can't work any more than part time jobs. This place pays nothing. I'd be lucky to afford a cardboard box. Some people aren't rich like you."

Kaiba finished eating and pushed the remainder away from him. "There are options."

"I will not live in a home for abused children. I don't need them babying me and telling me that I have psychological issues. I rather walk on eggshells with my father and take the abuse than have to deal with that over and over again."

Kaiba sighed. "It's not as bad as you think. I'll leave so the rest of the staff can leave. Think about it, Jou. Sometimes it worth it so you don't hurt in the morning."

Jou shook his head and took the dishes to the back. He rinsed them off and placed them in the dishwasher for later. Once he went back out to wipe the table down, he noticed a huge tip from Kaiba. Growling, he walked towards the front. "How long ago did he leave?"

"He might still be outside." The brunette said, frustrated that she had to stay longer than normal.

Jou grabbed his things and ran outside into the cold night, hoping to catch Kaiba. He slipped on the ice and slammed his head against the cement. Groaning he sat up slightly. All his old injuries seemed to scream. "How many of your old injuries did you irritate with that fall?"

Jou was about the yell back, but he noticed Kaiba was actually concerned. He sighed and took the hand that was held out to him. "I was trying to find you. Do you think you left too much of a tip, or was that hush money?" Jou didn't know why he was angry with the large amount of money. He should be grateful that now he could afford the jacket he needed, and the monthly fee for his school this month.

"Neither. I don't care who knows about my past, and you act like I can't afford to give a little extra."

"A little extra? That would be like twenty dollars, but this is three hundred dollars! Hey are you okay?" Jou asked suddenly, watching Kaiba sway on his feet.

"Fine."

"Yeah, and I live in a beautiful house with a loving family. Where's your driver?"

"Probably already sleeping."

"How are you getting home?"

"I can drive myself."

Jou reached out and caught the falling CEO. "Sure you can. You can't even stand." Jou reached up and felt Kaiba's forehead. "You're burning. Where are your keys?"

Kaiba reached into his pocket and gave them to Jou, knowing that he'd never make it home alive with how lightheaded he felt. He helped the burnet into his car and turned the heat up as high as it could go before pulling away from the curb. He removed is light jacket and threw it over the shivering man. Kaiba huddled underneath it, wondering how he could get sick so quickly. He knew he wasn't feeling well all day, but he thought it was a normal cold, and he would get over it quickly like normal.

Jou drove slowly, not wanting to risk wrecking Kaiba's car with the slick roads and to keep a careful watch on Kaiba. He was lucky to know where Kaiba lived even though he never went to visit. He pulled up along the gates, surprised that they didn't open immediately for him. He leaned over and gently shook the CEO, hating to wake him. "How do I get into your gate?"

Kaiba shifted and reached up pressing a button on the driver side's visor that Jou didn't notice before. The gates opened, allowing Jou to drive up to the front door. Not knowing what to do with the car, Jou left it directly outside and ran around to help Kaiba out of the passenger side. Kaiba staggered up to the front door and inserted his key before typing his password on the alarm box beside it.

Jou helped Kaiba into the house. Kaiba slipped and started to fall, but Jou reached out and grabbed him. The CEO attempted to push Jou away, but the blond kept him close. "Stop being stubborn and let me help you up to your room."

"I'm fine now. You could..." Before Kaiba could finish his sentence, he reached up to his forehead and slowly collapsed.

Jou sighed. "Sure you are." He lifted Kaiba's surprisingly light weight into his arms and carried him up the stairs. Jou staggered a bit. Kaiba was tall and light which caused Jou to have difficulty with weight placement. He started down the first hallway not sure which room was Kaiba's. He felt guilty for tracking his wet shoes on the now beige carpet. He shifted Kaiba to his left arm and opened up one door after another. He found a sleeping Mokuba in one of the rooms and tried the door directly across from him. Jou smiled in triumphant. He instantly knew it was Kaiba's room, judging by the white and blue decor and the various devices all around the room. Everything thing seemed in place and Jou could see one of the dueling devices sitting on the desk by the window.

He set Kaiba down on the bed. He ran to the adjoined bathroom and grabbed a washcloth. He wiped the sweat that started to form on Kaiba's forehead before starting to undress him. Finding it more difficult than originally planned, Jou finally managed to get Kaiba out of his suit and into a pair a pajamas that he found in one of the drawers. He tucked Kaiba in, trying to get as much warmth to the shiver brunet as possible.

Jou walked out of the room and downstairs. He wasn't sure where anything was, but he knew he had to find a kitchen at least. He finally found it after searching for a half hour. Looking through the cabinets, Jou found a bowl and put ice water into it. He returned to Kaiba's room, proud that he remembered which door. He moved the desk chair over to the side of the bed and reached down to the floor. Ringing the extra water out, Jou began to dab Kaiba's sweaty forehead and cheeks. He ran the cold cloth down Kaiba's neck and then moved the blanket slightly up until Kaiba's feet was free. He placed one of the cold cloths over his feet. He needed to get Kaiba's temperature down as fast as possible. Otherwise he would have to call an ambulance.

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Okay that is the first chapter. I know a lot of these chapters may drop out of nowhere, but the next chapter starts right where this one left off. I was just typing away not paying attention to how many pages I had and now I have to figure out where to end the chapters so they aren't so long. The next chapter will be up tomorrow. I'm still writing this story and working on the older chapters at the same time. Hopefully this doesn't have too many typos. I read over it once when I wrote it, once when I realize this was no an oneshot and just before I uploaded it LOL. Even the third time I was still catching typos. Let me know how I'm doing so far. Thank you all for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you, fantasywriter93, lily272, Mimi-senpai, and dancing elf for your kind reviews. I'm happy that I caught some people's attention. I managed to get further towards the end of this story but not too much further. LOL I'm trying to find the ending I want, but it seems like my creative mind doesn't want to end it.

Warnings: none except for the cliffhanger at the end of this chapter, but don't worry. I'll update this next chapter as fast as I could.

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Chapter Two

Jou spent the whole night taking care of the sick burnet. Walking up and down the stairs for more ice water, Jou found himself being careful not to wake Mokuba and wondered why there was no staff around the house. The entire time Kaiba never woke. Jou rubbed his tired, dry eyes and glanced at the clock in the kitchen. This was his fifth trip downstairs. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and dialed his teacher's number. He knew this wasn't going to go over well, but he had to try anyway. He was worried about Kaiba not waking yet, and he didn't want to leave him even though he was sure Mokuba would know what to do. On top of the fact that he might fall asleep in class which would be worse than just not showing up. The phone rang a few times before an angry woman's voice answered. "You better not be calling to tell me you're not making it."

"I'm sorry, Minako-sensei. I've been up all night tending to a sick person."

"Am I suppose to believe that? You do know that if you miss another day after this I'll have to hold you for another semester. At this rate you'll never graduate."

"It's the truth! Seto Kaiba came into my restaurant last night where I work. After I left he was outside, but he didn't look good, and I helped him home. He's extremely sick and needs someone to watch over him."

"I'm sure Mr. Kaiba has someone that could do that. Whatever. You make your own choices, but remember one thing. If you need to take another day off don't bother calling me and don't even think about finishing this semester. I'll automatically sign you up for the next one."

The woman hung up and Jou frowned. He hated how close he was to not graduating again. Jou sighed, not sure what he should do. There was still a few months left to the semester, and he didn't know how his father would react to him not coming home last night. Jou reached back for the bowl and filled it again with ice water. He was just about to leave when a tall male with black hair walked into the kitchen. His stern brown eyes stared at him. "How did you get in here?" The man pulled out his cell phone and grabbed Jou by the arm.

"Wait! I helped Kaiba home last night. He's really sick and upstairs in his room."

The man growled and threw him against the counter, causing the blond to drop the bowl. It shattered on the floor. Jou gasped from the force aggravating his already bruised back. The male had him pinned to the counter before Jou could even react. "What is going on?" another tall bald male said. His glasses prevented anyone from seeing his eyes.

"I found this man in here."

The man pulled out a small device. "There was no security breach last night. How did you get in here?" the bald man asked Jou.

"Kaiba was sick and couldn't drive himself home. I helped him upstairs to his room. Him and I are old classmates."

"Keep him secured there. I'll check on Kaiba-sama. You better not have hurt him." The bald man left quickly while the man holding Jou pulled him with a bruising grip over to living room. Pushing Jou into the leather couch, Jou glared up at him. He knew it was good that Kaiba had intense security, but he also knew that they wouldn't be able to wake Kaiba. He tried several times during the night.

The bald man came storming down the stairs. He pulled Jou up by his collar and slammed him into a nearby wall. Jou groaned from the abuse. "What did you do to him?"

"He's sick! I've been taking care of him."

"Kaiba-sama never gets that sick."

"Well there's a first for everything."

The man growled and punched Jou directly in the stomach. Jou gasped and coughed. He hated being abused and never thought he would run into something like this at Kaiba's mansion. Tears collected at the sides of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. The pain was too much. The new injuries were making the old ones hurt twice as much. "What are you doing?" a young voice spoke.

"Master Mokuba, we found this man in the kitchen."

Mokuba gasped as his eyes landed on Jou. "Release him. He's an old classmate of Seto's." The two guards instantly let go, causing the blond to fall. Mokuba was at his side in an instant. "What are you doing here?"

"Your brother showed up late last night at the restaurant that I work at. When he left, I found him outside, and he didn't look good. He's sick. I managed to get him home. I was just returning to his room when they found me."

"Master Mokuba, I checked on Kaiba-sama. He's unresponsive."

Jou growled. "That's because he's sick. I've been nursing his high fever all night. Check the kitchen floor. It probably still has cold water on it."

"Enough. I'll handle this."

"But Master Mokuba."

"Jou is no threat. You are dismissed." Both of the guards left the room. "Seto doesn't normally get sick."

"So I've heard. He's got a high fever and chills. It's probably the flu, but I didn't want to wake you in the middle of the night for something like that. I was keeping his fever down until they interrupted me. Excuse me a second, Mokuba." Jou walked into the kitchen and picked up the pieces of the bowl he dropped. He sighed and moved to the cabinet that he found the first one in and filled the bowel up.

Mokuba followed him. "You've been up all night. Aren't you tired?"

"A little, but it's nothing I can't handle. Is there a doctor we can call? I'm sure they didn't try hard enough to wake Kaiba."

"Sure. I'll get him over here right away. Are you sure Seto is okay?"

Jou smiled and ruffled Mokuba's long black hair. "Positive. I'll meet you up there."

Jou walked around the corner just as Mokuba called his name. He stopped and glanced back at him. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm fine. How about you call that doctor of yours." Mokuba nodded and dashed off down the hallway. Jou sighed and shifted his sore body. He didn't want to make the younger Kaiba feel responsible for what happened. He opened Kaiba's door and moved back to his seat beside him. Wetting the washcloth again, Jou gently padded the moisture that formed over Kaiba's face. "Your security is very protective. I'm glad but mad. That really hurt," Jou mumbled, thinking Kaiba was still asleep.

"How bad?"

Jou looked up at Kaiba's cloudy blue eyes. His voice was strand. "Nothing to be worried about. You know it would take much worse to get me down. Feeling better?" Kaiba coughed and buried himself further into the covers. Jou chuckled. "I guess not. I'm going to get you some water. Mokuba called your doctor."

"Jounouchi?"

"Don't worry. Your security won't come after me. Mokuba cleared everything up."

"Jounouchi?" Kaiba sighed as he watched the door shut. He figured the blond was ignoring him. He glanced over at the clock with a heavy sigh. He should have been at work a long time ago. That would explain the reason for the security showing up at the house and instantly suspecting something happening to him. He wondered why Jou was still there, and why he didn't wake Mokuba to watch him. He was sure Jou had somewhere to be.

Jou opened the refrigerator and grabbed one of the water bottles he seen earlier. He searched the downstairs for some medicine, but he couldn't find anything. He walked down the hallway he saw Mokuba disappear to earlier to ask him for medicine, but he couldn't find the raven haired teenager. Jou walked back up to Kaiba's room and stopped at the door hearing voices.

"You have to say something, Seto. By the time I got downstairs, they had him pinned to the wall. I don't know what they would have done if I didn't say anything."

"I don't know, Mokie. They were doing their job. I don't know why he didn't wake you up. You could have stopped all of that before it got out of hand if he told you want was going on earlier. I don't want to fault them for protecting us. He could have been robbing the place or something."

"They found him in the kitchen carrying a bowl of ice water!"

"Mokuba, enough," Kaiba barely got out before a round of strong coughs. "You didn't call the doctor, did you?"

"Of course not. I know that would upset you. Though I wish you would let the doctor look at you this time. You look horrible."

"Thank you, Mokie. I'll be fine. Check on Jou. He should have been back by now."

Jou chose that time to walk in the room and handed Kaiba a bottle of water. Kaiba drank half of it before Jou could tell him to sip it. "Are you sure you're okay?" Kaiba asked, feeling better now that his throat wasn't dry.

"Fine. If everything is fine now, I'm going to head home. My shift starts soon."

Kaiba noticed the change in Jou's personality instantly, but chose not to say anything. "I can have my driver take you home."

"It's fine. I can just walk back. Feel better, Kaiba." Jou left the room and walked down the stairs.

"He seemed different," Mokuba mumbled.

Kaiba sighed and nodded. "I'll figure it out later," he mumbled, disappearing into his thick blankets. He did feel much better compared to last night. He wondered what Jou did to make it like that. He closed his eyes. "Mokie, inform my secretary that I won't make it for the afternoon appointments and to reschedule everything. I'll go in tomorrow." Kaiba was asleep before Mokuba could even get out of the room. He smiled at his brother, knowing that it wasn't often that he got sick, but when he did he'd been out for several days. Maybe having someone watch over him was great for his brother. He gently shut Kaiba's door, wondering what Jou did to help his brother recovery quickly.

Jou shoved his hands in his pockets, choosing not to take a bus home only because he didn't have any cash on him besides the large sum Kaiba gave him for a tip. He had already spent his other tips on eating that night. He shivered from the extreme cold and hated seeing the fallen snow all around him. His trip to home was quiet with barely any cars driving through the snow covered streets even though it was mid-afternoon. His shift didn't start to later on that night, but he didn't want to stay any longer in the mansion, especially since Kaiba wasn't going to do anything to help himself. If he would have known that he wouldn't call the doctor, then Jou would have forced some sort of medicine down his throat. He would have still done that if he didn't want Kaiba knowing that he was standing right outside listening to their conversation. Guilt washed over him as he stepped up to his squeaky, swaying metal stairwell leading to his apartment.

The metal stairs swayed under his weight, but like every other night, he made it up with no other resistance. Fishing his keys out his pocket, he fumbled with lock. Finally after several long minutes, Jou got the door opened. He was instantly bombarded with the smell of rotten food and alcohol. He could smell a distinct odor of urine, but ignored it. The smell of his house always caused him to lose any appetite he had. Shuffling through the surprisingly quiet house, Jou made it to his room and opened the door. What he saw caused him to frown. His room was destroyed again. His broken bed leaned more towards the wall than normal. All his treasured pictures were torn in half. He gently moved them off the floor and placed them in the trash. He should have known that he couldn't keep anything special.

Fear plagued him as he noticed all his clothes lying just in front of his closet. He abandoned his clean up and moved everything off the floor to his closet. Lifting up a loose board, he sighed with relief. The cherished picture of his sister and himself on the beach lied untouched. He replaced the board and started cleaning his room, coming to the conclusion that he needed to get that picture someplace safe. It had been several months since he talked to Yugi, but he knew that Yugi would take care of it. He couldn't live with the fear of something happening to it. Even though it was just a picture, it was the last happy event before his mother took his sister away and abandoned him.

Once the room was cleaned, Jou moved towards his bed and stared down at the broken frame being held up by several books under the legs and middle of the mattress. He sighed and readjusted the bed. "There you are you little whore," a voice spoke suddenly. Jou jumped, but before he could turn around to defend himself from his father, something collided with the back of his neck. He blacked out quickly, not feeling anything as his unconscious body crashed with the floor. The older man sneered down at his son and grabbed his leg. Dragging him out of the room and down the hallway, Jou's father pulled him into a dirtier room. He knew that it would take his son more time to clean up his room and would give the older man the opportunity to capture him.

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I hope this is to everyone's liking so far. The next chapter will be up hopefully either in the morning tomorrow or early afternoon. Thank you all for reading and please review.

Angel Dove


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you FantasyWriter93, lily272, Mimi-Senpai, and RainingHearts4Ever for your kind reviews. I'm sorry, RainingHearts4Ever. I tried very heard to get this next chapter out, but I thought of another element to add to the end of the story and was adding more. LOL I just can't seem to stop adding things to this story. Anyway, let's get this story moving.

Warnings: Bound and beaten Jou nothing too graphic

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Chapter Three

Kaiba sat on his bed. Numerous documents lied spread across the large bed and his lap. His laptop lied forgotten on the nightstand. The CEO didn't know why he was distracted that night. He blamed it on his cold, but knew that it was something far worse. Why did it bother him that Jou suddenly left the house? Could his security really have done that much damage to the blond to scare him away? Why did he stay with him all night instead of waking Mokuba and going home? Then there was the guilt. He should have thanked Jou for his kindness. With a heavy sigh, Kaiba moved the documents off his lap and pulled the laptop back down.

Something inside of him was screaming at him to get in contact with Jou. He didn't think the blond had a cellphone but it didn't hurt to try looking. After countless searches coming up with nothing, Kaiba growled and leaned over for his cellphone. Not only could he not find any number for Jou, but he couldn't even find his address. The CEO flipped his phone open and scrolled through his lists until he landed on Yugi's number. He hated calling his rival, but something didn't sit well with him.

Yugi's cheerful voice answered instantly on first ring. "Kaiba, it's a pleasure to hear from you."

"Wouldn't it shock you if it wasn't me?"

Yugi chuckled. "If someone got a hold of your phone they wouldn't be calling me. What can I do for you?"

"I need Jou's number." Silence followed. "Did you hear me?"

"My first response should be why would you want it, but I can't give you that. You see. Jou doesn't have a phone. In order to get in contact with him we had to wait for him to call or come over."

"Do you know where he lives?"

"No. I actually haven't seen him since we graduated. I know he's been having trouble financially, and that he missed too many classes. I heard the teachers talking to him about making it up at some school next semester. I think he had to pay for it though. I don't know if he did it. We let a month go by without seeing him. I just thought he was too depressed and needed to think some things over. We even tried to find him, but the house we went to once burned down. I don't know where he's living now. Did you see him?"

"I stopped at the restaurant he works at."

"Did he look okay?"

"As far as I know. Do you know the address for his old house? Maybe I can find him from there."

Yugi frowned. "I'll have to look for it and call you back. Why are you looking for him?"

"He helped me home last night. I wasn't feeling well. He got roughed up by my security this morning, and I wanted to know if they hurt him. He left before I could question."

"Oh. Give me a few minutes to find it. I'll call you right back."

"Okay." Kaiba closed his phone and started moving the documents off his bed and back to his desk. He wasn't feeling perfect, but something was killing him. Why would Jou hide? It couldn't be because he was embarrassed by where he lived. Something worse than abuse was happening and it gave Kaiba a bad feeling. A few minutes turned into nearly an hour, but Yugi finally called back with the address. The rest of the afternoon Kaiba spent on the computer searching through everything he possibly could think of to find Jou. Right when he was about to give up, he found Jou's name registered at a school for students that didn't graduate from high school. He grabbed his phone and dialed the teacher's number. He would have to give his teacher his phone number or address.

"Hello." a female voice answered.

"My name is Seto Kaiba, and I need some information on one of your students."

"And why would I be giving you any information, Mr. Kaiba?"

"He helped me out greatly last night, and I wanted to send him something to express my gratitude. If you could give me his address, I would appreciate that," Kaiba said using his gentle tone. He knew that teachers normally didn't give information on their students out, but he was hoping he could charm her into giving him that information.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba. I can not give you that information. If you would like to send it to me, I'd be glad to give it to this person. Who is it anyway?"

"I don't want to send it to you. I want to be sure Jounouchi gets it." There was a pause. "Is there a reason for your pause?"

"No, sir. Like I said, either send it to me, or you can keep it."

Kaiba glared at his computer screen before he smiled in triumph. "No, I think I'll call one of his friends. Good day, ma'am"

He hung up the phone finally able to hack into the school server and find Jou's cellphone number. He frowned at not being able to see his address. Apparently either Jou didn't give it or the school didn't put it in. He tried calling Jou, but the phone went right to voicemail. He hung up figuring that Jou might be at work.

Kaiba spent the next several hours on the computer and phone, trying to find the location of either Jou's home address or something that he could track to Jou. He was growing more and more frustrated by the second and didn't even realize that he missed dinner or that the night was finally coming to a close. He was about to close his laptop and get some much needed sleep when his cellphone went off. He quickly reached for it hoping that it was Jou calling him back since he was sure that he got his number on caller id.

He growled noticing that it was Yugi. "What is it, Motou?"

"Atemu did some magic and was able to locate Jou's aura. We have a general location and was about to go over to it so Atemu could focus more clearly in order to find Jou. Would you like to come with us?"

Kaiba sighed. He didn't like relying on other people especially his rival, but he didn't want to be left out of finally finding Jou. "Are you still at your house?"

"Yes."

"I'll be right there." Kaiba moved off the bed, losing his balance slightly from being in the same position as he was for a long time. He moved to his closet and grabbed something warm to wear. Even though he was barely coughing or sneezing anymore, he still wanted to make sure he didn't get worse. After telling Mokuba that he was going out and making sure he promised to go to bed on time, Kaiba walked to his garage and chose the least expensive car. He knew that Jou didn't live in a safe neighborhood and wanted to make sure that he didn't draw any attention to him.

The trip to Yugi's house was swift. He must have hit ever green light, but with his distracted mind, he didn't remember anything about the trip. He spotted both Yugi and Atemu waiting outside. Atemu got into the passenger side while Yugi moved into the back seat. "I didn't know you had a car like this. I always thought you had nothing but limos and sport cars." Kaiba grunted and glanced beside him at Atemu. He had the Eye of Ra on his forehead and an image of the Millennium Puzzle glowed softly above his outstretched hands. "I wouldn't try to talk to him. He's worried about Jou, and says that when he first sensed him something didn't seem right. He'll randomly tell you the directions so drive slowly."

"You sound like you did this before."

"Well sort of. I couldn't find my wallet." Yugi blushed. "I dropped it accidentally on the street last year. That's when we noticed that he could do something like this."

"We need to hurry. Something is coming through. I don't know if it's fear or pain or both, but we need to get there," Atemu mumbled.

Kaiba put the car in gear and started to drive down the street. With Atemu's quiet motions and firm voice, the three managed to get directly in front of a run down apartment. The metal stairs looked like they were about to fall off, and the heavy snow already on the stairs wasn't helping. Kaiba worried about the stairs falling as they climbed up. Atemu closed his eyes and released the hold on the image of the puzzle. "He's on the third floor apartment. We'll have to climb those stairs." Kaiba frowned, but both Yugi and Atemu didn't even hesitate to climb. Kaiba followed them, gripping the cold metal as it swayed under the weight. Thankfully they made it up to the apartment without any problems. Atemu moved his hand in front of the door. "There's no one else in the apartment, but Jou's aura is very weak."

The door opened magically, and the three walked in. Kaiba instantly placed his hand over his nose. The smell was horrific, and the filth that lined the house made the CEO gagged. He couldn't believe that Jou would live in something like this. How long had he been living like this? Was it before they graduated? Could it have been during the time that Jou would smile and laugh all the time? Kaiba finally recovered and followed the two through the house. He stepped over the numerous bottles of alcohol and trash that lined the floor. Atemu moved through the house following his instincts more than the magical impulses.

At the end of the dark hallway, Atemu pushed open the door that was left slightly ajar. Both Yugi and Atemu stopped suddenly. Yugi gasped, "Jou!"

Kaiba moved into the room and stared at the figure chained to the bed. There wasn't place on him that was left clean. He had blood and bruises lining ever inch of his naked body. Kaiba was the first to move. He pulled off his long black trench coat and laid it over Jou. "Atemu, can you unlock these cuffs like you did the door." The former pharaoh made quick work of the cuffs, knowing that this was more Bakura's thing than his, but he managed none the less. Atemu gently brought Jou's arms down noticing that there was blood along the wrists.

Yugi walked up to them with a wet wash cloth that he managed to find in the bathroom. Kaiba glanced at him. "We should get out of here quickly. We can clean him up when get back to the mansion." Kaiba threw his cellphone at Yugi. "Speed dial number five gets my doctor. Tell him to arrive in ten minutes at the mansion. Atemu, get the door." Kaiba lifted Jou gently in his arms, hearing the soft whimper the blond made. Kaiba moved his arms, one under Jou's long legs and the other firmly behind his back. He leaned the blond man against his chest and whispered soft comforting words to Jou.

After much struggle of getting Jou down the metal stairs and into the back seat of his car, Kaiba lied his head on Yugi's lap who instantly started to run his fingers through the blood filled blond strands. He frowned and glanced at Atemu who instantly nodded his head before turning around in his seat. Both knew that it had something to do with Jou's father, but they've never knew Jou was having this much trouble at home. They knew about the occasional bruises and cuts that would appear. The ever loving blond would just smile and tell them not to worry about it. Jou shifted several times on the way back to the mansion, but he never woke. Tears formed into his amethyst eyes as he listened to the pain filled whimpers Jou was making. "I'm sorry," he whispered, allowing the tears to run down his cheeks.

"Aibou, this is not your fault," Atemu said, not even turning around to look at Yugi. He could still feel extreme emotions from Yugi even if they weren't connected by the Millennium Puzzle any longer. He knew that his younger lover was suffering from seeing his best friend in such a condition, but Atemu refused to let him feel guilty for not finding Jou earlier. If he was going to do that, then it was as much his fault as his lover's for not looking for the blond.

Kaiba glanced at Yugi through the rearview mirror. He knew how difficult it must be for Yugi to see his friend in such a condition. He wouldn't even call Jou his friend, and he already wanted to kill who ever did that to him. Kaiba pulled into his driveway, pleased to see that his private doctor was waiting outside. The doctor met him on the stairs as the CEO reached into his backseat to carry Jou upstairs to one of his guest bedrooms. "What is the situation?" the older man with gray hair asked.

"I found him chained to a bed in his own house. He hasn't woken since we got there. He's covered in blood and bruises, but I'm afraid something else might have happened as well."

Kaiba placed Jou on the bed, not caring that his jacket was now full of blood. The doctor frowned and set his bag down on the floor next to the bed. He glanced at the other suitcases that Kaiba's staff brought up earlier for him. He hoped that he had enough supplies. "I need a bucket of warm water, several washcloths, and towels." The doctor moved everything off the nightstand by the bed and set up several things that he may need. Kaiba returned with everything he needed. He walked over to the desk that sat in front of the window and moved everything on it to the floor before pushing it next to the bed so he could set everything on it. "Thank you, Kaiba-sama. If all three of you could please wait outside or better yet in the living room, that would be great. This will take awhile." Kaiba didn't move at first, but the doctor placed his hand on his shoulder. "I'll take good care of him. Please, Kaiba-sama, you know I can't work with you staring over my shoulder."

Kaiba nodded and moved out of the room shutting the door after Yugi and Atemu left the room. Atemu wrapped his arms around Yugi's waist and walked downstairs to the living room. He had never been in Kaiba's house, but knew that if he made a wrong turn Kaiba would tell him. The CEO took one last glance at the door. He was tempted to stay directly outside of the room, but he knew that the doctor would have to clean Jou up on top of bandaging and assessing him. He followed the two duelists downstairs to wait for the doctor to finish.

The doctor sighed with relief as he heard the door shut. He didn't think he could get Kaiba to leave the room, but he was happy that he managed. He didn't want the CEO to watch him clean the blond. He pulled a large cloth sheet out of his suitcase. He was glad that he brought everything he owned especially after hearing that his patient was severely beaten. After much struggle, he managed to get the sheet under the blond and the coat now sat on the floor. The doctor reached for a syringe and two bottles. He gently injected the blond with a sedative and pain reliever after he cleaned a part of Jou's arm off. He waited a few minutes for the medication to fully enter his patient's bloodstream. Starting at Jou's head, he cleaned the blood out of his hair and checked for any wounds to the head.

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Again the next chapter should be up tomorrow. I need to finish this new scene I added to the end before I work on cleaning up the next chapter. I'm so unorganized this time, but I'm loving it! Everything seems to be fitting together nicely. Thank you for reading, please review.

Angel Dove


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you FantasyWriter93 and Jououchi Katsuya for your kind reviews. I'm on my road to the end of the story, but I can't find the ending I want so I decided to come back and work on these parts of the story and get them uploaded.

Warnings: Mention of rape and abuse. Jounouchi and Kaiba are slightly out of character for now.

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Chapter Four

Several hours later and a few trips to the adjoined bathroom to clean the water out, the doctor finally had Jou completely cleaned and bandaged. He glanced at his watch and noted that it was still an hour too early to give Jou another injection. Gathering up everything he used and the now bloody washcloths and towels, he threw everything including Kaiba's jacket into the large plastic medical bag. He placed the samples he took from Jou into the other bag he brought with him. He moved Jou off the sheet and under the blankets. After tucking the unresponsive blond under the covers, the doctor moved everything back to its rightful place in the room. He knew that Kaiba would do it himself, but the doctor had time to waste and didn't want to give Jou his second injection too early.

Taking another look at his watch, he moved out of the room and quietly shut the door. The doctor found the trio in the living room. Kaiba was standing by the fireplace, watching the flames flicker. The two twins were sitting closely on the couch. The shorter one had his head on the other's shoulder. He cleared his throat, attracting everyone's attention. He held one finger up, not liking to be bombarded with questions. "For starters, Kaiba-sama, where is your brother?"

"Sleeping upstairs."

The doctor nodded, noting that it was still in the middle of the night. He didn't want to risk the younger Kaiba walking in while they were discussing the damage done to the blond man. "By all legal rights, I shouldn't be telling any of you this. I should be on the phone with his next of kin informing them about everything that I found, but I know for a fact that Kaiba-sama would never let me out of this house without knowing what happened. All of you need to sit."

The doctor eyed Kaiba who sighed and sat down in the chair closet to Yugi and Atemu. Yugi sat up and kept his eyes on the doctor. He was worried about what the man was about the say. It was never good if the doctor informed you to have a seat before telling you the outcome. The doctor moved to the other chair facing the three. "We'll start with the good news. There is no head trauma or any signs of broken bones. I would suggest getting him x-rayed after he wakes especially if he has trouble moving some part of his body. I took some samples to test when I get back to the lab, but judging by his color, he has a severe case of malnutrition and dehydration. Even though there was a lot of blood on him, he didn't lose enough blood that he would need a blood transfusion. You must have found him right after the incident."

The doctor took a breath and placed his hands in his lap, seeing that they were taking the news so far okay. He knew that it was only going to get worse. "I have him sedated for now, but that will wear off in a few hours, and he'll be able to wake on his own. If by any chance he doesn't wake in twenty-four hours take him immediately to the hospital. He doesn't have any bruises or cuts on his head, but that doesn't mean anything. His wrists were rubbed raw. That's to be expected with anyone who is restrained. He must have fought the entire time judging by how deep the cuts were. I took pictures of all his cuts that I had to stitch and bandage. The soles of his feet as well as his back and buttock were wiped with a belt. He has welts and cuts from the belt buckle. He may have trouble walking for a few days while the swelling goes down."

The doctor paused again. Kaiba could tell there was something that the doctor didn't want to tell them. He bit his lower lip and watched the doctor. "I found traces of semen in the back of his throat and inside his rectum. I'm sorry, but your friend was orally and anally raped. His passage is torn, but not badly enough to need surgery. I have some medication for him to take for that as well as cream that he'll need to rub along his torn passageway to help with the healing. I also found bite marks and nail marks on his penis and inner thighs. My suggestions are to have someone stay with him at all times until he wakes up. I don't want him to damage his feet more by trying to move. When he does wake, don't touch him at first. He'll probably be confused and scared. You might want to schedule him an appointment with a psychologist in order to assess the amount of mental damaged this event had on him. The doctor might want to put him temporarily on some medication for it. But, again, that decision will have to be made once he wakes. It is still his choice."

The older man hid a yawn behind his hand and glanced at his watch. "I'm going to inject him with another pain reliever. All the medication and prescription you'll need are up on the nightstand as well as instructions. If there is nothing else you need from me, I'd like to go home and sleep. I'll be back in two days to check on his progress. I'll also have all the tests results back. If you need anything, call me." Kaiba nodded and watched the doctor leave the room. He knew that the older man would be capable of leaving on his own. He glanced at Yugi who had his head now buried into Atemu's chest. The younger man must have started crying sometime during the explanation.

Atemu's gaze met Kaiba's. "I'll take the first watch," he said before the CEO could volunteer.

"Fine. You both could rest in the bedroom next to Jou's. My bedroom is three doors down from his on the same side. If you need anything or something happens, wake me immediately." Atemu nodded and helped Yugi upstairs to the bedroom Kaiba indicated. It took him several minutes to get Yugi calm enough to fall asleep. He left the room just as Kaiba was coming out of Mokuba's bedroom. He wondered if Kaiba told his brother anything or just went in to check on him. The two met each other's gaze. Atemu nodded and walked into Jou's room to keep watch for a few hours. He knew that he would be able to stay awake the rest of the night if need be, but he assumed that Yugi or Kaiba would take his place long before that happened.

It was mid afternoon by the time the blond awoke. Kaiba was in the room at the time while the other two slept peacefully in the room next door. Jou groaned and stared up at unfamiliar ceiling. He moved his arms quickly noticing not only was he free to move but the pain was intense. Kaiba let him move for a bit to clear any of his confusion. When Jou made to get up, Kaiba finally spoke. "Easy, Jounouchi. You shouldn't get up yet."

Jou jumped to the sudden voice and gasped. The movement caused pain to shot through his body. "W-where am I?" Jou stuttered. His voice was thick and barely a whisper.

"You're at my mansion. Don't move too much. The doctor had to put several stitches in various places of your body. If you move wrong you could split them open again."

Jou buried his head into the soft pillows, staring up at the ceiling. "How did I get here?"

"You left before I could probably thank you for helping me. I don't know what you did, but I'm feeling much better. Usually when I get sick I stay in bed for several days. The next day I was already feeling better. I had a lot of trouble finding you. It was like you didn't exist. Atemu managed to track you magically and that's when we found you in your apartment. Can you tell me what happened?"

Jou hesitated for a few minutes. He chewed on his lower lip, debating on the pros and cons to telling the CEO what truly has been happening in his life. He didn't want someone's pity. He wouldn't mind a little bit of help, but something inside of him screamed that he didn't need anyone. He was strong on his own. Why would he need someone's help? Jou shivered as memories of his father came into his mind. That was the worst his father ever was. He knew that he could defend himself from just his father, and it never seemed to affect him if it was his father beating him, but there was more than his father last time. A tear ran down his cheek. "Am I truly that weak?" the blond whispered, not noticing that he spoke that aloud. He grew angry and scrubbed the tear off his cheek with the blanket.

"Don't say that. A normal person shouldn't have to go through what you went through. Crying and admitting that you can't handle it does not make you weak. It makes you stronger." Kaiba crossed his legs and leaned further back in the chair. It wasn't the most comfortable, but he needed to give the blond his space. "I know you might have trouble talking about what happened, but I want you to know that anyone here is willing to listen."

"Why are you being so nice?"

"Why did you help me home a few days ago?"

Jou frowned. "I didn't want to be responsible for you dying or someone taking advantage of you since you were so sick."

"I believe that as much as I believe my parents are still alive. Tell me the truth. What were you expecting? A night in the mansion? Money?"

The usual fire that was in Jou's honey eyes returned and he glared at him. "That would be taking advantage of you. What do you take me for? I care what happens to you whether you believe me or not. No matter what you did to me or how we fought, I always knew that there was something more buried deep inside of you. I knew that if you could show love and compassion to your brother than there is room in your heart for someone else. You confuse me. I never knew someone as high and powerful as you are to pay attention to someone low and worthless like me. I could laugh and have a good time with my friends but that was all an act. I wanted to get the anger out of me. I was furious that my mother left me with such an asshole. Why did she abandon me? Did she not love me? Why does my father do this to me? Am I such a waste of space? If that's the case, then why did you always pay attention to me? I craved the attention, but when we graduated I knew I could never see you again. Then you showed up at my work. I thought you would start yelling or making fun of me, but all you did was asked if I could talk to you. I couldn't figure out what was going through your head. It's as if you want me in your life, but you're too shy to admit it."

Kaiba smiled listening to ever word of Jou's ramble. He couldn't believe how quickly Jou could change subjects. He loved the fire in his eyes, and the fact that he could truly hear the emotions behind each word. "Maybe I do want you in my life," Kaiba answered, ignoring the rest of Jou's ramble but not forgetting about. Jou had a lot of anger that he needed to get out of his system, and he planned on helping the blond. He wanted Jou to feel strong again.

Jou stopped and stared at him. "What?"

"Maybe you're right. I'm too scared to admit my feelings to anyone. I've lost so much in my life that I'd do anything to protect the only part that is still with me. I don't know how to express emotions like you do because they've been dead for years. How do you teach a person who's never experience joy, happiness, and love to show all those emotions?"

"Do you care for me?"

Kaiba sighed. "I care about what happens to you. I want to see you smile for real. No one should have to go through what you went through. And, if they did, they deserve all the help available to them."

Jou blinked his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You will not be going back that that place."

"But..."

"Your father will not be able to reach you here. Whatever you need will be provided for you. I will not take no for an answer, Jounouchi. It's time for you to receive all the love, attention, and protection you provided for your friends. You're not a horrible person, and you don't deserve to be forgotten or abused. Is that understood?"

Tears sprang from Jou's eyes. He never thought that someone would care that much for him. He smiled brightly. "Understood," he whispered.

"Good. Now, when you are ready to talk, you can talk to anyone. I realize that you might not trust me enough, but Atemu and Yugi are here. For starters, you should rest more." Kaiba uncrossed his legs and stood.

Jou reached for him. "W-Wait."

Kaiba turned, wrapping his fingers around the hand that held his wrist. He knelt down beside Jou. "What is it?"

"I...I..." Jou frowned. He couldn't say it. He had Kaiba right here, and he couldn't say those words.

"Just spit it out, Jounouchi. Don't be afraid."

Jou took a deep breath. "Please don't leave me alone. I'm afraid of being alone."

"I can stay until you fall asleep and then you can call for me when you wake up. I'll be right down the hall. I'll hear you."

"But..."

"You don't want me to leave?" Jou shook his head. "How about if you let me get some things from my room, and I'll stay with you then?" Jou nodded. "You'll have to let go of my wrist if you want me to do that." Jou looked down at his hand before slowly releasing him. "Thank you. I'll be right back." Kaiba moved swiftly to his room, leaving both doors opened. He figured that Jou would be scared, but he didn't expect the blond to want his protection more than or equal to his friends. Grabbing his laptop and the documents he was working on earlier, Kaiba moved back into the room Jou was in. By the time he got back, Jou was curled under the covers with the blankets held up to his chin. He could barely make out the small fingers holding it tightly. Kaiba set everything down on the desk and plugged his laptop in.

He knelt beside Jou and placed his hand on the bed directly beside the blond. "I'll be right there." Jou nodded and closed his eyes. Seeing the blond relaxed slightly, Kaiba moved over to the desk to start on some of his paperwork.

"Kaiba," Jou whispered after a few minutes. "I can't sleep."

Kaiba twirled in his chair to look at Jou. "Is it too quiet?"

"I don't know."

Kaiba walked over to the large dresser and turned on the radio. He moved it to a station that played more classical music then songs with lyrics. "Try that for a few minutes." Jou nodded as Kaiba walked back over to his desk.

He was halfway through the second document when Jou called his name again. Kaiba sighed and reminded himself to have patience. It was like raising Mokuba all over again. "Still can't sleep?" Kaiba moved over to the bed and knelt beside it. "What is on you mind?" Kaiba could barely see Jou shake his head. Counting slowly to ten to gain his patience back, he moved over to the other side of the bed in order to see Jou better. When he stood directly beside the blond, Jou reached up and pulled the burnet down into the bed. Kaiba wanted to struggle, but he feared that he'd hurt Jou. This confused him more than anything. How could Jou want someone this close to him?

"I don't want to be alone," he whispered.

"You're not. I'm sitting right there." Jou whimpered in response. Kaiba was worried that Jou would start to have a flashback and react badly to Kaiba being held directly above him. The blond was shaking badly enough to rock the bed. "Why would you want me of all people to hold you?"

"I trust you."

"Why?"

"I just do."

"That's not an answer."

Jou growled and stared up at Kaiba. "Because I knew some day you would show up and save me from that hell. I knew it would be you. I wished for it! You plagued my dreams constantly. You were the first person I thought of after my father beat me. My knight in shinning armor just like in those fairytales. Why can't you just hold me? Protect me. Love me!"

Kaiba was shocked speechless. A few long seconds passed before Kaiba softened his facial expression. "I will do all of that for you." He stretched out his legs and pulled Jou into his chest. "And much more," he whispered into the blond's ear. Jou sighed in Kaiba's arms, feeling his body slowly calming. He didn't know why Kaiba was suddenly so nice to him, nor did he care. He got what he wanted; someone that he viewed stronger than him protecting him. Everything seemed like a dream and he prayed that he never woke from it. It didn't take long for Jou to fall asleep, feeling warm and protected in Kaiba's arms. The CEO shifted his body slightly so that most of his weight was on the bed and not on Jou. He glanced over Jou's body, making sure that none of the bandages were bleeding. Once satisfied, Kaiba sighed and buried himself further into the bed. He made sure that he remained on top of the covers while Jou was underneath them. He sighed and glanced over at the paperwork. Another day of not finishing it.

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I hope that was okay. I know Jou is reacting strangely and that last two paragraphs might be confusing but I had to end I there for right now. The next chapter is a small one. I might try to get it uploaded later on today, but I have to stop arguing with myself on where I want the ending to go first LOL. Thank you for reading and please review.

Angel Dove


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you Nagareboshi-Lover for your kind review. This chapter is much shorter than the rest of the story only because it used to be part of the next chapter but it got very long so I separated it. Like promised, I managed to get it updated today. LOL I gave up on the ending for a few hours.

Warnings: mentions of Jou's rape and abuse, Jou is still slightly out of character.

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Chapter Five

Atemu walked in a few minutes later with the intention of relieving Kaiba and taking the next watch. What he didn't expect was to find both the blond and the burnet sleeping in each other's arms. At first he worried about what Kaiba was doing, but then honey eyes opened and smiled at him. He held up his finger to his lips. "He finally fell asleep," he whispered, nuzzling himself into Kaiba's arms.

Atemu smiled and knelt down beside the bed. "Is this want you want, Jounouchi?"

"More than anything."

"Then I'll leave the two of you alone. Are you sure you're not just blocking everything that happened to you?"

"Probably, but I'll think about that later. Right now. I have the man I've always knew that would save me."

Atemu smiled and placed his hand on Jou's shoulder. "Don't let it get too much for you. Remember we're always here for you. You don't have to do things alone."

Jou nodded and turned to snuggle back into Kaiba's arms. Atemu rose and went back to his room with Yugi. He knew his young lover would be thrilled that Jou was awake and in Kaiba's arms. He never thought that he would be this comfortable. Something inside of the blond was choosing not to remember what his father did to him. Jou feared his own reactions when he finally allowed the memories to surface. Would his push people away? He finally was able to feel love and safety. He didn't want to lose it now. A tear rolled down Jou's cheek and splashed with Kaiba's shirt. He felt the burnet's arms wrap tighter around him as if giving him permission to cry. The tears fell more rapidly. He sobbed all the pain and suffering out of his system. He didn't understand why everything came crashing down right after Atemu left. Jou tried to move out of Kaiba's arms, but the burnet squeezed tighter.

"Don't run away, Jounouchi," Kaiba whispered and buried his face into the blond locks below him. "Cry as long as you need."

Jou shuttered and buried his face completely into Kaiba's chest. "Why me?" he sobbed. "Why does this always happen to me? Have I done something to deserve this pain?"

Kaiba ran his fingers up and down Jou's back. "How many times do I have to tell you that you've done nothing wrong. This is not your fault. I can say that to you over and over again if you want me to. Tell me what happened. Get everything out of your system, Jounouchi. Don't hold anything back."

Jou sobbed and shook in Kaiba's arms. "He was far worse than he'd ever been, I could take the beatings, starvation, and mental abuse, but I couldn't handle what he did." Jou gripped Kaiba's shirt, feeling all his barriers falling. He thought he could hide what happened and forget about it, but his mind wasn't letting go. "He knocked me unconscious when I got home the night I left your house. When I awoke, there was him and his two friends plus a girl that I think was his whore at the time. They..." Jou stopped and held his breath as the tears threatened to silence his story. He desperately wanted to say those words, but nothing was letting him speak.

Kaiba pulled Jou away from his chest and wiped his eyes. "If you can't tell me what happened, it's okay. I understand."

Jou calmed and rolled onto his back still hiccupping from the sobs. "I was chained to the bed, naked, and helpless to save myself. The two men were sitting at the foot of my father's bed and he stood by my head while the woman sat on a chair near the door. At first they took turns hitting and cutting me. I could have tolerated that, but then one of my father's friends got bored. H-he started touching me. Then the other man and woman. I-I wanted to vomit, but nothing came. They took turns." Jou closed his eyes and rolled to his side pulling his knees to his chest and his back to Kaiba.

"It lasted for so long. The pain was unbearable. All they did was laugh and tell me that 'a whore should do nothing but spread his or her legs.' I don't remember how many rounds they got off on me, but I collapsed after awhile. The next time I awoke was here."

Kaiba shifted and placed his hand gently on Jou's shoulder. He could still feel his body trembling. "You're safe now. You never have to return there. In fact, I can hire security to retrieve any of your belongs."

Jou frowned and turned to face Kaiba. "Besides dirty clothes that barely fit me, I have nothing left."

"What about your deck?"

Tears rolled down his face. "Sold it to pay for the medical bills and the school this semester. I have nothing left but that picture of Shizuka, but I'm sure my father found it already once he noticed that I was gone."

"That may not be true." Kaiba smiled and pulled Jou close. He was surprised that the blond wanted to be touched, but he wasn't going to push him away if Jou desperately needed the affection. "If you want that picture, I can send someone in to find it. You still have your friends. You have a chance to live the life you've always wanted."

"And you?"

Kaiba ran his fingers through Jou's hair. "And me. I'm still here for you."

Jou yawned and wiped his nose on his shirt. Kaiba reached up and handed him a few tissues from the box beside the lamp. "Thank you," Jou whispered, blowing his nose and wiping his eyes.

Jou threw the used tissues on the nightstand on his side and pulled Kaiba into his arms again. The CEO chuckled. "Am I not allowed to leave you?"

"Nope. You have to run your company from this room."

"Tempting, but I do have to show up at work just to let them know I'm still alive."

"Not today please."

"I wasn't planning on it until you're ready to be alone in this house. It's huge and can be unbearable at times. I want you to feel safe here."

"Thank you," Jou mumbled, falling asleep in mid-sentence.

Kaiba sighed. "I'll just tell you that again when you wake up." He moved further down in the bed and placed his arms around Jou as well.

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I hope that's okay. I know it's a bit of a teaser, but there is more to come in the next chapter. I should have that up sometime tomorrow. Thank you for reading and please review.

Angel Dove


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you FantasyWriter93 for both of your kind reviews and lily272 also for your kind review. Sorry that this chapter is a bit later than normal. I finally got the ending of the story in order and now I can start working on this part again.

Warnings: None

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Chapter Six

The next morning Jou was awoken by Kaiba's phone. The blond shifted and shook Kaiba's arm, mumbling his name. The burnet grunted and reached blindly for his phone. Growing more irradiated as it continued to ring; Kaiba got up and walked over to the desk. "Kaiba," he grunted with a yawn.

"Seto, where are you?"

"What do mean where am I? I'm in the mansion. Where are you?"

"You're not in your bedroom or office or anywhere else that you normally stay. Which room?"

Kaiba chuckled, remembering that he didn't tell Mokuba that Jou was there. "In the guestroom three doors down the hall from my room."

"Did you forget where you slept?"

"I had a patient to take care of. If you're downstairs can you tell the staff to bring up something to eat for us and a giant mug of coffee?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Can't get away with not having coffee?"

"Just do it, Mokie."

"Yes, sir."

Kaiba sighed and hung up to phone. He turned to see Jou shaking in the bed. "Are you okay?" When he got closer he heard Jou snicker. "What's so funny?"

"You're house is big enough where your own brother can't find you," he said in-between laughs.

Kaiba sighed and sat on the bed. "That's why we have our cellphones on us at all times. Do you want to try sitting up? It won't take them long to make something to eat for us."

Jou moved slowly. "I need to use the bathroom first and a shower if you don't mind."

Helping Jou into the bathroom so he didn't have to put weight on his feet, Kaiba pulled out a few towels and washcloths. He handed them to Jou. "I'll find you something to wear and set it on the toilet while you're in the shower. There is a seat to sit on. Remember don't put much weight on your feet." Kaiba reached into the shower and turned the knobs until the water came flowing out. "The one on the right adjusts the heat and the one on the left adjusts the flow of the water."

"Thank you." Jou waited until Kaiba was out of the bathroom until he undressed. Even though he was sure Kaiba saw all the marks lining his body, he didn't feel comfortable being nude in front of anyone. He quickly jumped into the shower and closed the door. The water felt wonderful on his sore body. He changed the water slightly to make it feel more like a massage and moaned as his sore muscles seemed to ease. He never heard Kaiba return with the clothes.

Jou reached for the washcloth and started scrubbing his skin. He was in too much of a trance to realize that he was scrubbing himself raw where the cloth met bare skin. "Jou, are you okay?" Kaiba shouted into the bathroom. It had been over a half hour since Jou got in.

Jou jumped and dropped the slightly red washcloth. He gasped and stared at the now raw skin that had small areas of blood. "Yes," he answered quickly before frowning at the new wounds. "Can you give me a second to get dressed?"

"Take your time," Kaiba shut the door slightly, hoping that he wasn't making the blond nervous.

Jou got out and wiped himself off, searching desperately for some bandages. Finally finding a roll of gaze, he wrapped his arms with it. Putting his clothes on, he limped out into the bedroom instantly bombarded with the delicious smells of breakfast. Kaiba was sipping a cup of coffee while he worked on some of his paperwork. Jou walked over to the large tray table that was placed in the room. Every kind of food he dreamed of was sitting it. His stomach gave a loud growl. Kaiba chuckled. "Eat anything you want," he said, not looking up from the document directly in front of him.

Jou picked up one of the plates and loaded it with pancakes, scrabbled eggs, French toast, fruit, and toast. He sat down on the bed and devoured everything. It took several runs over to the table to get Jou's stomach fully satisfied. He smiled and rested his hands on his full stomach. It had been several months since he felt that satisfied. Kaiba glanced back at Jou and then over at the table. He realized that half of everything was gone. He smiled and moved the documents to the side of the table. "The doctor will be here in the afternoon." He noticed Jou's worried glance. "Just for a check up and to clean your bandages. I don't have to been in the room if you don't want me to."

Jou sighed and looked down at his arms hidden underneath the long sleeve red shirt. "Let me think about it."

"Okay. I need to work on some things. I can ask Mokuba, Yugi, and Atemu to stay with you. I'll still be in the same room; I just don't want you to be bored. Is that okay?"

"Can I sleep until the doctor gets here? I can play with them afterwards."

Kaiba frowned. Normally Jou would never pass up a chance to play video games with Mokuba or see his friends. He did notice that Jou was still pale and had red rims under his eyes. "Okay. Whatever you need, Jounouchi." Jou pulled the blanket up to his chin and curled up under it. He had difficulty falling asleep, but listening to Kaiba's fingers clicking against the keyboard helped ease his fear, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Days flew by for Jou. The doctor was slightly disappointed with his new wounds on his wrists, but he never told Kaiba about them. His body was slowly recovering from the attack, but his mind still refused to forget. He would smile and laugh with his friends and Mokuba. He allowed Kaiba to touch him and slowly the CEO made his way back to his own room. It was the third day in the row that Jou remained in his bed during the day. Mokuba left for school ever morning while his older brother returned to his office. None of his friends came over during the day because they were either working or was attending universities. Jou felt alone and jumped at ever noise, resulting in him staying in his room. He never went downstairs to eat and often found his first meal was dinner. Neither Mokuba nor Kaiba suspected anything. Jou would be all smiles whenever someone was around, but frowned and stared at the walls when he was alone.

Jou sighed and curled up under the covers. Mokuba was going to a friend's house that night and Kaiba was always late. The staff had gone home already even though it was mid-afternoon, leaving Jou completely alone. Jou noticed early on that the security never returned to the mansion. The blond's stomach gave a low rumble. He tried to turn over and ignore the pain, but he was hungry. Conceding defeat, Jou left his room and headed for the kitchen. His feet and most of his wounds have completely healed, allowing him to take care of himself. He knew that there was dinner ready for them. The dark hallways scared Jou, but the light switch was at the end by the stairs. He walked swiftly to the stairs and down on the first floor, forgetting about turning on the lights. His feet just hit the bottom floor when a flash of lighting engulfed the house followed by an explosion of thunder.

Jou jumped and ran into the living room. Tripping over one of the chairs, Jou fell into the glass table, shattering it. He pulled his legs up to his chest and covered his head. "Please, Father, I'll be good," he mumbled.

Kaiba opened the door moments before he heard a crash come from the living room. Dropping his briefcase, he ran into the living room, fearing that someone was attacking Jou. He heard Jou mumbling. Kaiba turned the lights on, expecting to see the blond's father in the room, but he saw no one except for Jou lying on the ground. Kaiba ran to him and tried to place his hand on his shoulder, but Jou flinched away before he could "Are you okay?"

Jou screamed and pulled away from Kaiba. "I'm sorry, Father. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me."

Kaiba glanced around the room and pulled his cellphone out. Dialing for his security, he tried to keep Jou in one place. "Do a perimeter check around the house. We may have an intruder." He snapped the phone shut and tried to get Jou to look at him. "Jounouchi, it's me. You're safe now." A loud clash of thunder caused Jou to jump again and curl up more. He continued to mumble to himself.

A security team came in through the door and divided up the first floor. "No one was found outside," Roland commented. "They are taking this place room by room. Is he okay?"

"He's in some sort of trance or memory. I can't get him to look at me. I don't know if he's hurt or not."

A sudden pillar of golden light lunched from the ground around Jou and connected with the ceiling. Kaiba stared in awe and tried to reach for the blond, but pulled his hand back quickly. He glanced at the burn. "Kaiba-sama!" Roland shouted, trying to pull Kaiba away from the light.

"Jounouchi! You have to wake up!"

Kaiba tried to reach again, but Roland pulled him away. "You mustn't." The older man pulled out his gun and shot through the top of the barrier. The bullet ricocheted off it and nearly hit Kaiba. The rest of the security guards came running into the room with their guns drawn. "No one fire! Stay away from the light."

Kaiba's eyes widened as Jou's body began to fade. "Jounouchi!" he shouted. The light disappeared, taking Jou with it. Kaiba ran to where Jou was and felt around the area, avoiding the glass. He could still feel the lingering affects of the magic. Kaiba's phone rang. He glanced down at the caller id, "Yugi!"

"It's Atemu. Tell me that magic spike wasn't in your house."

"It took Jounouchi. What is going on?"

"We're on our way over. I sensed the strange magic and looked out the window. I saw the pillar of light and thought it was near your house. Whatever you do, do not go near the spot where the pillar formed. I'll be there in five."

Kaiba closed to phone and looked at the people in the room. "Everyone leave. I want the outside surrounded. No one gets in except for the Motou's. Once they are in let no one pass." Everyone bowed, and he looked back at Roland. "Retrieve my brother from his friend's house. Take him some place safe. Don't let him back in this house. Keep him safe. I may be gone for awhile, but I don't want you to worry about me. Take a few guards with you." Roland didn't move. Kaiba sighed and walked back over to him. "Please, old friend. Do me this one favor and protect my brother."

Roland sighed and nodded. "I don't want to explain to him that you got hurt or worse. Stay safe, Kaiba-sama."

Kaiba smiled and patted Roland's shoulder. "I hate to admit it, but Atemu won't let anything happen to me. He's strong enough to protect all of us. I need to save Jounouchi."

"Was that Shadow Magic again?"

"It doesn't feel like it. Plus it was light. It felt different almost familiar." Kaiba glanced up at the clock. "Mokuba should have just arrived at his friend's house. You don't have much time."

"Understood." Roland bowed and walked out of the living room right when Atemu and Yugi came running in.

"Tell me what happened."

Kaiba pointed over towards where the table lied. "I got home from work early, thinking that Jou would want some company for a change. A thunderstorm was starting, and I didn't want him to be scared in this place alone. I heard something crash and thought someone was attacking him. I found him curled up in the middle of the floor. I tried to touch him, but he pulled himself away. He was locked in some sort of trance or memory. He thought I was his father. Then, that pillar of light formed around him. I tried to reach for Jounouchi, but it burnt my hand." Kaiba held out his red and slightly blistered hand. "Roland even tried shooting a bullet through it but it ricocheted off it like it was a mirror. Jounouchi started fading before it disappeared and took him with it."

Atemu moved through the room and stood near the spot that Jou laid. "It doesn't feel like Shadow Magic." He placed his hand on the carpet. The eye of Ra glowed on his forehead. "It's a time rip. I think Jou's past life pulled him back into it, or he did it himself."

"What are you talking about? When we took that lovely trip into your memories, I saw everyone there as their past lives except for Jounouchi. I didn't think he had a past life."

Atemu frowned. "He was already dead at that moment."

"What?"

"Jou or Jono was a slave to Seth."

"Wasn't Seth…"

"Your past self. Yugi bring me those candles." Atemu started setting up the candles that Yugi held out to him. "Jono wasn't always a slave to Seth. In fact he was broken long before Seth bought him. Seth used to tell me stories about the day that he bought Jono. He said that the man selling him wanted a high price because Jono had to skills to be anything from a bed slave to a labor slave."

"What?"

Atemu held up his hand. "Let me finished. Seth was stunned by Jono's beauty even though his eyes were hollow and dead. He loved the way the sun glistened on his dirty golden hair. He didn't care how much he had to pay for Jono; he knew that he wanted him. I feared that my cousin was falling in love with the slave. I didn't want him to be hurt, but it turned out that Jono was loyal to Seth. They had a relationship that went beyond slave and master. Jono saved Seth's life. He died in the process." Atemu lit the candles and stood in the middle. "We need to rescue Jou before that happens. I don't know what happens if you die in your past life. Aibou, you need to stay here and watch over our bodies. Don't let anyone or anything disturb them."

Kaiba stood next to Atemu. "My security will not let anyone in or out."

"I suggest you inform them to take orders from Yugi. We may be gone for awhile."

Kaiba pulled out his cellphone and dialed Roland's number. "I need you to inform the security that Yugi Motou will be in charge. If he needs anything, they are to comply. Thank you."

Atemu stood in front of Kaiba. "We'll be transported unlike Jou. Our bodies will remain here and appear as if we are sleeping. If someone or something wakes you then you will be transported back to your body. Make yourself comfortable on one of the couches. You don't want to wake up with a sore back." Atemu walked over to one while Kaiba lied on the other. Yugi stood in the middle of the circle as if he's done this a hundred times. "Okay, Aibou."

Yugi opened the notebook and read the spell that Atemu wrote down before hand. He watched as the same bright light formed around both of them before disappearing. Once the spell was finished his closed the book and blew the candles out. He sighed and sat down next to Atemu. "Be careful," he whispered.

Atemu blinked his eyes, noticing that he was sitting on his throne. Several people surrounded him including his guards and advisors. He glanced around and did not see Seth. He cleared his throat and the room instantly went quiet. "Where is Seth?"

"He is in his chambers, my pharaoh."

Atemu nodded. "We will continue this later." Not even waiting for the reply, Atemu rose from his seat and walked through the familiar corridors of his palace. Even though it wasn't too long ago when he fought Bakura in his memories, he remembered each direction like he was there yesterday. He moved swiftly into the room, not waiting for the guards to announce his presence.

Seth turned to Atemu. "What is going on?"

"I forgot to tell you that we will be going into our old bodies."

"You do realize that I don't remember any of this. How am I supposed to pretend that I'm Seth?"

Atemu frowned. "I was hoping that being back here would help you remember, but that's a minor detail. Is Jono in your slave chambers?"

"My what?"

"Your slaves go to your slave chambers. Oh, never mind. Follow me."

Atemu walked pass the guards again and down more hallways. Seth followed closely behind him. He tried to memorize the way, but Atemu turned too many times and had to back track a few times. Eventually Atemu walked through the curtains of a room. All the people stopped what they were doing and sank to their knees. "My pharaoh," they whispered, bowing their heads.

"I'm looking for a slave by the name of Jono?"

"None of us have the name of Jono, my pharaoh. Is there something we can do for you," the timid black haired boy said, never raising his head.

"That is all." Atemu moved out of the room, pulling Seth with him. Once in a quiet hallway, Atemu stopped and looked at Seth. "You haven't bought him yet."

"I don't know how to do any of that. Much less where to go."

"Seth is still in there. It's just like when me and Yugi were connected through the puzzle. I could take over and push him to the back of my mind where he could see everything going on. You just have to release your hold on the body and step back. You'll still be able to see what is going on, but Seth will be moving."

"How do we know that Jou will be inside of Jono?"

"It's a chance we have to take. Now let him take over so we can get Jou back."

Seth sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he bowed. "My pharaoh."

"Cousin, I was looking for you. Did you get that new slave for the stables yet?"

"I am sorry. I was on my way to the block this morning."

"Good. Pick a strong one." Atemu walked away, knowing that he couldn't follow or go with Seth. He needed to keep the events the same in order to ensure Jono's arrival at the palace. He returned to the throne room in order to continue his morning duties. He prayed to the gods that when Kaiba saw Jono he wouldn't take over and risk losing both of them.

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I hope that's okay. I know it's strange to add the Egyptian element in here, but you'll see how it fits with the story in a couple chapters. Thank you all for reading. Please review.

Angel Dove


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you Nagareboshi-Lover for both of your reviews, RainingHearts4Ever, dancing elf, and FantasyWriter93 for your reviews.

Just a little writer's note: I did do a little research on Ancient Egypt before constructing this part of the story but not full research like I normally would. I apologize if I get something wrong, but let me know if I did so I can fix it and file that in my information to be used later the next time I think about Ancient Egypt.

Warnings: Nonconsensual sex even though Jono doesn't fight it and lets it happen it's not graphic. If this bothers you, please don't read the first paragraph.

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Chapter Seven

Jono awoke in the stiff bed with the arm of his latest master wrapped around his waist. The filth of their sex the night before still caked over his body. He frowned in disgust and tried to move, but the man held him tighter. "I still have time until I return you," the voice hissed. Jono closed his eyes and shifted to lie on his back. He spread his legs and felt the man coming in between them. He hated being used like a whore, but he had no choice. He bit his lip as the man entered him. He was still sore from the night before. Tears of pain collected at the corners of his eyes, but he never let them fall. He endured the pain until the man finished, covering him with more semen. Jono felt nothing, but his master seemed not to care. He got off the bed and walked over to where the chains sat.

Without any complaint, Jono sat up through the pain and allowed the dirty man to snap the steel chains on his wrists and ankles. Two small chains connected his ankles and wrists together and then connected to a longer chain in the middle. The man pulled harshly, causing Jono to topple over. The man kicked him several times in the side until Jono rose. He walked behind his master, knowing that he was still naked and not caring. Once back into the slave block, another man took Jono's chain and pulled him into a nearby cell. "Put some clothes on," the man hissed, "The lord is selling you again today."

Jono frowned, allowing the man to unchain him. He looked for the usual bucket of water, but it wasn't there. He grabbed the cloth that would barely cover him and sat on the small area of hay. He oddly felt different this morning. His head and body ached. He felt warmer than if he were to stand in the afternoon sun for hours. He knew better than to voice his complaints. He was there to earn all the money his father lost in a bet. He wasn't sure how much that was and knew that there was no chance he would be freed of this life. He closed his eyes for a moment. He slightly prayed that the master he got tonight wasn't as rough as the last one. He didn't feel well.

Seth walked through the streets of the marketplace, nodding to the people that greeted him. He hated being the one that would choose the slaves for the pharaoh, but as one of the advisors he knew that was his job. He glanced at the sun. The block would be opening soon. As he turned the corner he noticed that they were already leading the slaves on sale for the day to the stage. He looked up at that raised platform and already ruled out the women at the end. The next ones were slightly older man. He wrinkled his nose and then spotted a blond man standing on the far end. His mouth dried, and he stared at the golden hair that sparkled in the sun. It may have been dirty, but he still looked like a god. Something was calling him towards that man. He walked over to the owner. "The pharaoh wishes for slave number five permanently."

"Oh, Priest Seth, I am sorry. He is a rented slave."

"You wish for your pharaoh not to have what he wants."

"N-no," the man stammered. "He is very expensive and skilled in every area."

"Money is not a problem. What are his skills?"

"He knows every trade from cooking, serving, cleaning, and he could please the pharaoh in the royal chambers."

Seth frowned slightly. "How much?"

"H-he is…"

Seth rolled his eyes and motioned for the guards standing behind him. They dumped three bags full of fabric, grains, breads, and gold. "Will this be enough?"

The man stared hungrily at the bags. He nodded and walked up to retrieve Jono. The chain was handed wordlessly to one of the guards, but Seth intercepted it and took it himself. "I will lead him to the baths in the palace." Seth glanced back at Jono, seeing his hollow eyes for the first time. He wondered how long Jono had been a slave in order to be so broken. He felt anger well up inside of him, but he dost it. He had no right telling people how to use their slaves.

Once they returned to the palace, Seth turned to the guards. "Return to your posts. I will handle this slave."

Jono glanced up at Seth for a second. Why was this man taking care of him personally? Shouldn't he have other slaves? Jono felt his head swirling, and he gripped his forehead. He followed sluggishly behind Seth through the long corridors lit by large pillars. He was pulled passed two guards and entered into a large chamber. The dizziness bombarded his senses. He staggered backwards.

Seth glanced back at the sudden pull. He thought that the slave was trying to run, but noticed that he was falling. He let go of the chain and caught the blond man. He gasped, feeling the heat radiating from his body. Seth put Jono down on his bed and ran over to the medicine that lined his room. He placed a few drops on his fingers and tried to pull the slave's mouth open. "Open," he ordered, seeing that the Jono did exactly as he said. He slid the medicine in and wiped his fingers on the top of his mouth and then on his tongue.

Jono was barely aware of his surroundings. The room was spinning and when he closed his eyes he felt his stomach jump. He heard something that sounded like water dripping before he felt something cold touch his forehead. The cold cloth felt heavenly on his warm forehead. He felt tired and struggled to keep his eyes open. "Don't fight it. Let it take you to the dream world," the soft voice spoke. The voice didn't sound like any other. It was soft and had concern in it. Why would this man be concerned about what happened to a slave? He was sure that he didn't pay much for him and that he could argue over it when he returns him. Jono knew he'd be beaten for this later, but his tired mind refused to think about it.

Seth breathed a sigh of relief, watching Jono close his honey eyes. He grabbed the bucket of water that he left out in the sun to warm a little and started cleaning the dirt off Jono's body. He removed the only article of clothing Jono had on and gasped. His thighs were bruised and bloody. Growling under this throat and cursing them for being so cruel to this living beauty, Seth washed the blood away. He very gently turned Jono onto his side and looked at his anal. It was a very angry red. Seth parted Jono's cheeks and washed the blood away. He ran his fingers inside, noticing the pus from some of the torn tissue. He ran back to his table and picked up several bottles of various colors until he found what he needed. He washed his hands in the bucket of clean cold water before applying the bluish liquid to his fingers. Jono groaned in his sleep as Seth inserted his finger and rubbed the liquid as deep as he could get it. He removed his finger and saw more blood on it. Cleaning it off in the water, Seth repeated the same treatment until the blood stopped.

Once satisfied, Seth gently placed Jono on his back and covered the now shivering man with his blankets. He gently ran his fingers through the tangled blond hair. He removed the now warm cloth and placed it on the side of the bed. Using the last of the water, Seth washed the dirt and sand from Jono's hair while he balanced the unconscious man on his shoulder. Seth put Jono back under the covers, happy that the blond man was now clean. "Guard," he spoke softly, not wanting to wake the slave or startle the guards.

One of them walked into his chamber and bowed. "What can I do for you, my lord?"

"Send for a servant. I need clean water and clothes for the new slave. I also need new covers for my bed."

"Yes, my lord." The man left quickly while Seth walked over to his medicine. He knew that Jono would be sleeping for awhile. He sat down in the stone chair that faced the balcony. The soft blue cloths blew in the gentle breeze. He was grateful that it wasn't another hot day like yesterday. The cold air should help Jono recover. The servant entered a few minutes later, lying the clothes and blankets down on the floor and bowed. Seth nodded to him as he grabbed the dirty buckets of water and left the room. It took several trips to and from Seth's chamber, but the servant finally was able to get everything back in order.

"Do you wish for me to fix your bed, my lord?"

Seth shook his head. "I will do that later. The young man needs his rest."

"Yes, my lord. Is there anything else?"

"When Ra sleeps, bring something from the kitchens up here. That is all."

"Yes, my lord." The young man bowed and left the chamber. Seth closed his eyes. He was exhausted and couldn't explain it. Ra had barely started his journey and he wanted to sleep. Resting his eyes felt wonderful and before he knew it he was asleep in the chair.

Kaiba quickly took over and ran to Jono. "Jounouchi? It's Kaiba, can you hear me?" The blond stirred, but didn't wake. Kaiba swore under his breath and got up. Whatever Seth did was enough to keep the blond asleep. He walked out of the chamber and turned to the guards. "Do no let anyone in or out except if they are bringing food."

The guards bowed. "Yes, my lord," they said in unison.

Kaiba walked through the endless corridors. He needed to find Atemu and didn't know where the royal would be at this time of the day. "Seth," someone shouted. Kaiba instantly felt Seth stir and awake. He stared around in confusion but spotted Mahado walking towards him. He covered his confusion and greeted his friend. "The pharaoh is calling a meeting. I went to your chambers but the guards told me that you already left."

"I needed time to think."

"Choosing a slave bothers you that much?"

Seth sighed. "This one is strong, but he was abused severely."

"Wouldn't that mean that he's troublesome?"

"Normally, but he is very dossal. The last person to have him treated him like a bed slave, but wasn't careful. He was bleeding severely and his body feels like the sun."

"Where is he now?"

"In my chambers."

"You left him alone. What if he takes something?"

"Mahado, he could barely walk there. Plus, he will sleep until Ra rises again."

"I hope you know what you're doing. The pharaoh needed a stable boy and not someone to warm his bed."

"The trader said he has all skills. I'll test him once he is well."

"Why are you doing this yourself? You should hand him over to someone else."

"Do not question my actions," Seth hissed. He walked through the opening doors to the throne room. All the other advisors stood around the pharaoh who sat in the chair. He was decorated in various jewels and gold. His respected his cousin for being able to take the throne at an early age and rule Egypt peacefully. He bowed to Atemu. "My pharaoh. I have retrieved a new slave for your stables."

"Where is he now?" Atemu's eyes lightened. Jono was now in the palace.

"He is resting in my chambers. The previous owner treated him poorly, and I am treating his wounds."

"Very well. When he is well, I wish to inspect him myself."

"Of course, my pharaoh."

Atemu stood and walked down the small stairs until he reached the ground. Even though he was shorter than everyone in that chamber, they always respected him. The pharaoh was having a strange feeling much like the last time he went into his memories. It was like he was forgetting something. Something important. He did remembering having this conversation with Seth before, but something else was supposed to happen. It was a few years too early for Bakura to be bursting through his doors carrying his father's sarcophagus. However, there was something else that happened. He knew that he called all his advisors together for something, but he couldn't remember what it was.

Suddenly the doors burst open, the guards instantly bowed. "The messenger has arrived," one of them said.

Atemu frowned. "Why would they interrupt my meeting for just a messenger?" Atemu thought, finally remembering what was going on. "Send him in immediately." The pharaoh glanced over at Seth with a frown. He thought that his cousin spent more time with Jono, but apparently he was wrong.

A middle aged dirty man came into the throne room and bowed. "My pharaoh, we just received report that the assassin group that you suspected to be forming up north is true. We do not know who their intended target is or even if they are a threat to Egypt."

"Keep me informed. Guards, take this man to the kitchens and have him fed." Atemu knew that in the past he questioned him more later. The older man looked terrible and in much need of sleep. He wouldn't want to try to interrogate him for information until the man was well.

The man bowed again before leaving with the guards. Mahado instantly turned to Atemu. "We need to assign more protection to you."

"I agree," Seth spoke. "If they want to cause chaos in Egypt, they would assassinate the pharaoh. I can assign more guards right away."

Atemu frowned and allowed this to happen. He knew exactly who was the target and was tempted to change history, but he didn't want to think about how the future would be changed. He didn't know if Jono's death was tied into the events between Seth and Kisara. "I need some time to think things through. Seth, please follow me. The rest of you are dismissed." Atemu walked through the back doorway followed closely by Seth. "Kaiba, I need you to take over."

Seth blinked before placing his hand up on his forehead. "I tried to wake Jounouchi, but Jono is severely hurt. I don't even know if he is inside of Jono like we are. Is that assassination what I think it is?"

"Correct. They will come for you. I forgot that I got the message nearly a year before they made their move. I don't know what they're plan was, but I know that they were aiming for you and Jono took the hit. We need to figure out how to get Jou out of Jono before it's too late. I have a spell I would like to try. Since Jono is hurt I doubt Jou would be able to take over."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Speeding time up for a few days. Once Jono is aware of his surroundings, we may be able to wake Jou within."

"Do you know what you are doing?"

"Mostly. I've never done this before. It may be longer than I anticipate. We still have a year before Jono is killed."

Seth frowned. "Alright, but I don't want him to be dead."

Atemu sighed. "Don't worry. I have that much control. You'll wake up in a strange place, but it will be several days later." Seth nodded. "Good." Atemu held out his hands in front of him summoning the magic that he forgotten. The world shifted around them as if they were fast forwarding a video. The sun rose and fall and people walked passed them without even seeing them. The world went black around them.

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I know I just dropped that story, but it's another one of those I had the separate the chapter because it was getting too long. I hope everything is okay. The next chapter will be out either very late today or very early tomorrow. I've officially finished writing this story, but I have a lot of editing I need to go through. And my vacation is almost over. I'm not looking forward to going back to work LOL but who does? Thank you for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you FantasyWriter93 and Nagareboshi-Lover for your reviews. This is a slightly shorter chapter than the last, but I'm trying to get everything together. LOL

Another author note: There will be a time when Kaiba tells Atemu to tell 119, that is the emergency line in Japan if my sources are correct, but I tripled checked. It's not a typo.

Warnings: None

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Chapter Eight

Seth jerked awake. The morning sun was just reaching his balcony. Someone shifted beside him. He glanced down and smiled. Jono cuddled close to him. "Love, it's time to start the day."

Jono grumbled and lifted himself off the bed. "Why so early." Seth wrapped his arms around the blond and pulled him into his arms. "What has gotten into you."

"I had a dream that I lost you."

Jono chuckled. "No one could take me from you, remember?" Seth placed his hand on his forehead. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing. Just feeling a bit sick." Jono pulled Seth down and flipped him on his stomach. The priest chuckled. "What are you doing?"

"I have to take care of my master." Jono grabbed the oil off the table and rubbed it into his hands. He warmed it before rubbing it all over Seth's bare back. The burnet sighed and placed his head over his folded arms.

Jono's gentle hands and the oil's soothing nature eased the tension from Seth's back. Seth eased himself into a relaxed state, not knowing that there was another presence in his mind. Kaiba pushed his way through the barriers. He flipped around and took Jono's hands in his. "Jounouchi," he said. Jono had a confused expression before holding his head.

Jono blinked a few times and instantly blushed. "Kaiba! What is going on?"

Seth sighed in relief. "We need to act quickly. We have to find Atemu. Something brought you back to this time period, and we've been trying to get you out of Jono's subconscious mind." Jono moved quickly off Seth, but instantly held his chest. He hissed in pain, struggling to hold onto his conscious mind. "Jounouchi, what is it?" He moved the blond's arms from around his chest and gasped. The front of Jono's tunic was full of blood. How could he not have seen it before. "Lie down." Seth jumped off the bed and ran to where he knew that guards will be standing. "Summon the pharaoh to my chambers immediately. It is an emergency."

Seth returned to his bed and tried to place pressure over where Jono's wound was bleeding. "Stay with me, Jounouchi." He reached up and grabbed Jono's hand with his. "Keep squeezing my hand." Jono did as he was told.

Atemu rushed into the room, having only been a few corridors away. "What is happening?"

"I pulled Jounouchi out of Jono's subconscious. He was fine for a few moments and then started to bleed from this wound in his chest. He's going into shock."

Atemu glanced around the room for something he could use to heal Jono. He cursed and ran for the candles lying the walls of the chamber. "We need to go back now. There isn't anything I can use to heal him. Something must have happened to Jou's body." Atemu moved the candles around the room. "When we get back, Jou will be lying hopefully in your living room. We'll have to call a ambulance or doctor right away."

"Whatever. Just hurry. His grip is getting weaker, and I don't want to lose him again."

Atemu stood on the bed, positioning himself over Jono and beside Seth. He spoke the ancient spell as light fluttered into the room, surrounding the three of them. Atemu closed his eyes and reopened them seconds later to see Yugi's smiling face. "Atemu," he said softly.

"Did Jou come back?"

Yugi glanced behind him and gasped. Kaiba was the first off the couch. He stumbled slightly over to Jou. The blond coughed up more blood. "Easy, Jounouchi, you're going to be okay." Kaiba placed his hand over the wound again and smiled softly down at him. "Stay with me. Yugi, tell my guards to expect an ambulance. Atemu call 119." Jou closed his eyes, struggling to breath. "Don't shut your eyes. You keep fighting. I don't want to see you weak." Kaiba continued to talk to Jou while Yugi held tightly onto Atemu, worried that the ambulance wouldn't arrive in time.

The paramedics worked for several long minutes to stabilize Jou before transporting him to the hospital. Kaiba followed them, not caring if Atemu and Yugi were coming or not. They arrived a few minutes after Jou. The nurses directed them to a waiting area where Kaiba continued to pace. He worried about Jou's condition and how it was possible that he got hurt like that. Jou was fine before being pulled into his past life, or at least he thought he was. Kaiba ran his fingers through his hair, realizing that he still had Jou's blood on his hand and clothes. He frowned and glanced at the board that played the patient numbers on the screen. He waited for it to flip to Jou's number and saw that they were still in surgery. Yugi remained sitting on the chair directly in front of the screen as if it was his favorite television show. Atemu leaned against the wall, keeping a careful eye on both Kaiba and Yugi. "Why don't you wash your hands? If his status changes I'll come and get you."

Kaiba nodded and moved out of the slightly crowded waiting room. The bathroom was thankfully directly across from the waiting room unlike all the other times he was waiting in the hospital where it was on the other side of the floor. He tried not to touch the door with his hands. The faucet was motion censored. Once his hands were cleaned, he stared at his image in the mirror. His eyes were slightly bloodshot even though his real body was sleeping the entire time they were in their past.

Trying to compose himself, Kaiba left the bathroom and returned to the waiting area. Atemu shook his head and continued to watch the television show that was playing. Yugi still hadn't moved. Kaiba sat down next to him and shifted his gaze between the screen listing all the patients and watching television. Hours went by with no word from anyone about Jou. Atemu eventually sat down on the other side of Yugi, but other than that no one moved.

Finally a nurse entered in and escorted them to a conference room. The waiting game made Kaiba even more nervous even though his usual emotionless face was plaster on. The doctor entered and took a seat in front of everyone. "Normally we don't talk this over with friends of the patient until after we have consent from either the patient or the family, but judging by the fact that his father is unreachable and his mother hung up on me, I'm at a lose." Kaiba was starting to grow tired of the doctors telling him that they weren't suppose to be talking to him about Jou, but he knew that the doctors could lose their job for something like this. "For starters, Mr. Jounouchi will make it. It's unclear what stabbed him, but we found traces of glass in his wound. Are you sure you didn't find a weapon or some object anywhere near him?"

"Positive," Kaiba answered. "When I got home I heard a loud crash and found him lying on the ground next to the table in the living room." Kaiba stopped. "The glass table was broken. A glass shard could have stabbed him."

The doctor nodded. "Well, the object pierced his lung, thankfully it didn't cause much more damage. His lung collapsed but we managed to stop the bleeding and repair the damage. He'll have to go through respiratory exercises to restore the strength in his lung, but other than that, he's going to be fine. There are scars in various parts of his body. Do you know what they are from?"

Atemu glanced at Kaiba. The CEO thought for a moment before deciding on his answer. "His father has been abusing him."

The doctor's gaze turned to anger. "And no one reported this to the police?"

"He had been hiding it for awhile. A few days ago I rescued him from his home, and he hasn't had contact with his father since. My private physician did a report, and I filed it with the police. We are in the process of charging his father for everything."

"I see."

"When can we see him?" Yugi whispered.

The doctor smiled. "He is being moved to a permanent room. Once we have him situated we'll come and get you. You can stay in this room or go back into the waiting area. The nurse will come for you."

"We'll wait here," Kaiba answered. "Thank you, doctor."

"Of course." The doctor bowed and left the room.

Yugi glanced at Kaiba. "Did you file the reports with the police?"

"I will once Jounouchi allows me. It's his decision, and I refused to push him into anything. Atemu, do you think his wound was from the glass table?"

"That's where Jono was stabbed at as well. Maybe being pierced there again pulled him back into his past life. It could trigger his past life's memories like mine did. Luckily we have modern medicine. In the past, Jono didn't make it. I'll have to do some research. Are you still going to keep him at your mansion?"

"'Of course. We still have to figure out how he was teleported back. I have no magical ability nor would I want to banish him from this place. Plus you buried all the items. I've never touched the rod."

"Jou was controlled at one time by the rod." Atemu glanced around the room before getting up to shut the door. He didn't want anyone overhearing him. "You are the rightful owner of the rod. It was a severe thunderstorm last night. You said Jou seemed to be trapped in his own mind. Maybe Jou has been hiding a lot more than what we thought. Maybe he wasn't healing from his father's abuse. Maybe he never truly recovered from Malik's control and that magical essence still exist inside of him. You never touched him?"

"I couldn't get near him."

"You are magically bound to the rod even if you've never touched it. Jou was once controlled. Then there was the thunderstorm. There was enough magical energy in the air to trigger something, but why would Jou be transported back to ancient Egypt?"

"Maybe he felt safe there," Yugi finally said. Both Atemu and Kaiba stared at him. "Seth would protect Jono from everything including people that thought he was nothing but a worthless slave. In this world, he was being abused and stepped on all his life. Maybe he had enough and wanted to be with someone that would save him from his pain."

"He called me his knight in shining armor when I first talked to him after we found him. He said he was happy that I finally saved him. Why wouldn't he think he was safe in the mansion? He was petrified last night and knew I usually work late. We would have to ask him when he wakes."

A quiet knock preceded the nurse opening the door. "Mr. Jounouchi is ready for visitors when you are. He is still unconscious and this visit shouldn't be more than twenty minutes to a half hour."

Kaiba rose. "We don't plan on leaving his side. He is an abuse victim and needs protection. I'll be orchestrating everything from here. Once you lead us to his room, I want you to retrieve his doctor so I can inform him of the plans."

The young red hair shook slightly. Yugi felt sorry for the young girl. "Kaiba, be a little nicer. She was probably ordered to tell you that."

"Fine. Lead away."

Atemu rolled his eyes and glanced back at Yugi. "He's always business, huh?"

Yugi giggled. "I heard that," Kaiba said, not bothering to look back at them. "I can always keep you away from Jounouchi."

Yugi glared at the back of his head. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." Yugi growled and crossed his arms over his chests, not saying anything else. Kaiba didn't know why he was angry all of the sudden. Maybe it was the fact that he couldn't believe that Jou would chose Seth's protection over his own. He was going to prove to the blond he would feel safer in this time period than any other.

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Now they are back in the right time and Jou is on his road to recovery. If you feel like you are on a slight rollercoaster ride then I'm doing something right. The next chapter will be out soon as soon as I can fix it. Thank you for reading please review

Angel Dove


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you dancing elf, FantasyWriter93, RainingHearts4Ever, and Nagareboshi-Lover for your wonderful reviews. This is a longer chapter but with a lot of dialogue. Some of my secrets are revealed, but the rollercoaster ride isn't finished yet.

Warnings: Mentions of rape and abuse

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Chapter Nine

Within the hour, Kaiba managed to not only convince the doctor and nurses that they were staying in the same room as Jou for the entire time he was hospitalized, but there were guards already standing outside. Yugi sat on the second bed in the room, staring at Jou's pale face. The young man had yet to awake, but the doctors were optimistic that he should be awaking soon. Yugi knew that Kaiba's security was unnecessary, but he wasn't objecting to it. If someone was to let it slip to Jou's father where he was, he feared what the older man would do. Atemu had left a few minutes ago with Kaiba to find something that they all could eat. Yugi reached across the space between the bed and held Jou's hand. "I wish you could wake up so we can figure out what happened."

"What makes you think I know?" Jou's scratchy voice whispered.

Yugi smiled and walked over to him. "How do you feel?"

"Tired, sore, everything hurts," Jou gasped. "It's difficult to breath."

"Stay calm," Yugi rubbed the blond's arms. "You're going to be fine. You can rest more." Yugi pressed the button attached to Jou's bed to alert the nurse's station.

"Okay," Jou whispered, closing his eyes again.

A tall male nurse walked in. "He's awake, but went back to sleep already," Yugi spoke before the man could say anything.

"I'll inform the doctor." The burnet walked over to Jou and checked the machines attached to him. "I'll bring some water back with me."

"Thank you." The nurse exit just as Kaiba and Atemu walked back in. "He woke for a few minutes and went back to sleep," he informed them.

"That's good," Atemu said, handing Yugi a Styrofoam box. Yugi thanked him and started eating. Kaiba didn't have anything other than a large cup of coffee. He took the seat next to Jou that he had been sitting in earlier. The CEO glanced up at the monitors, noting that the levels didn't changed. He set the cup down on the table and held Jou's hand. Jou still looked sickly pale.

The honey eyes opened and stared up at Kaiba. "Hey," he softly said.

Kaiba gave him a smile. "Welcome back. Did you have a good dream?"

"Sort of. It was very confusing."

"I bet. You can tell me everything later, and we'll help you piece everything together. I bet you're still tired."

"Not so much." Jou squeezed his hand and smiled. "I'm sorry to have worried you."

Yugi shifted his eyes away from the two and glanced at Atemu. The former pharaoh chuckled and continued to enjoy his food. "I think they are getting closer, Aibou."

"I can live with it as long as you're okay," Kaiba answered, not paying attention to the others in the room.

"Thanks, Kaiba."

Jou's stomach gave a low rumble. Kaiba chuckled, "The doctor will be here soon. He'll let you know what you can eat and when."

Jou crossed his arms and pouted. He hissed as he accidentally hit the wound in his chest. "They must have me on some strong drugs. That didn't hurt until I touched it."

The CEO shook his head. "You probably weren't focusing on it. I refused to let them give you anything too strong until you woke, and they could better assess your level of pain. I didn't want them giving you anything that would keep them from better assessing the damage done."

The doctor walked in drawing everyone's attention but Kaiba's. He flipped his long black hair over his shoulder and walked towards Jou with a smile that brighten his sky blue eyes. Jou's jaw dropped. Yugi giggled and Atemu whacked him in the back of the head. "Aibou, don't forget who you're going out with," he whispered for only Yugi to hear.

The tall doctor set Jou's chart down on the table and reached down to push Jou's bed up slightly. The blond watched his muscles flex from under the slightly tight white shirt the doctor wore under his lab coat. Kaiba cleared his throat. "Jou, this is your doctor, Dr. Johnson. He's here from America studying Japanese medicine and medical methods. He assisted the doctor with your surgeon."

Jou blinked, watching the doctor sit down on the bed. He groaned slightly. "Are you serious?"

Kaiba crossed his arms and legs, leaning back in the chair. "Very. He knows Japanese so feel free asking him any questions."

"So, Doc, when can I get something to eat?" Jou asked in perfect English, surprising Kaiba and the doctor.

Dr. Johnson chuckled. "You wake up and the first thing you think about is food. Do you feel any pain? Difficulty breathing?" the doctor questioned, choosing to change their language back to Japanese.

"I'm half American. My father usually talks to me in English. Feel free to use it if you want to feel more comfortable."

The doctor sighed. "And you are avoiding my first questions. We can discuss different things if you don't like those questions. How about those scars you have on your body? Or, how you managed to impale yourself with a piece of glass?"

Jou turned his head and faced Kaiba. "Pain isn't so bad, and my chest feels a little heavy like if I were to break a rib or something."

"Have you broken your ribs before, Mr. Jounouchi?"

"Falling down a flight of stairs. The stairs leading up to my apartment aren't very sturdy. I thought they were collapsing, and I tried to run down them, but I tripped and landed hard on the cement." Jou's stories became second nature to him. He could easily make up a story on the spot that would keep the doctors away from his personal life.

Dr. Johnson sighed and grabbed Jou's chart. "We'll be giving you an apparatus to help build strength back into your lung. It may take a couple of days until your lung heals from the surgery. We didn't want to start it until we talked with you prior. You had other injuries that we were concerned about and the fact that Mr. Kaiba informed us that you had some sort of mental breakdown before coming to the hospital. We didn't want you waking up scared and hurting yourself more. As for something to eat, I'll have something brought up to you. We'll start you on something easy. Any other questions?"

"When can I get out of here?"

"After your lung starts healing we'll assess you again and we'll have a better idea then. Right now we are looking at a week or two."

Jou groaned and placed his hands over his lap instead of crossing them over his chest again. "I really don't like hospitals."

"I'm sorry, but with your injury we need to keep a close eye on you. There's a television that you can watch anything you want, and I'm sure your friends here can pick up some things for you to do. Do you think your pain is severe enough for some medication?"

"No. I'm okay." Jou closed his eyes. He didn't want to tell the already suspicious doctor that he was used to pain that severe.

"I'll be here for another two hours. If you think of anything you may want to ask me, ask the nurse to page me. Other than that, I'll check on you before I leave and then see you again in the morning."

"Thanks, Doc." Dr. Johnson nodded and left the room. Jou glanced over at Kaiba, noticing the slightly angered expression on the taller man. "What's with you?"

"Nothing."

"Giving me attitude, huh? Not my fault you picked the sexiest doctor in the hospital."

Kaiba glared at him. "It wasn't my choice. If I had a choice, you'd have a fat, old, ugly doctor. Someone that could never break your gaze from me. And, what are you two laughing at?"

Atemu took a deep breath and let out another laugh. "You just admitted to Jou that you have feelings for him, and we can see your jealousy in your eyes."

Kaiba growled and shifted his gaze away from everyone in the room and looked out the window behind him. "Kaiba, admit it. He is a very attractive doctor," Yugi admitted. "Maybe if you confessed your feelings to Jou, you won't have to worry about the doctor moving in on your lover."

Jou glanced between the three. "You guys know I'm still awake and can hear you, right?" Jou's cheeks burned, and he tried to hide them in the soft pillows.

A slight blush ran across Kaiba's cheeks. He cleared his throat. "That is something to be discussed at a later date."

Atemu growled in frustration and started to get up from his seat, but Yugi placed his hand on his lap, keeping him there. The two wanted Jou to finally hear the fact that Kaiba had feelings for him. They were tired of the playing and knew that it would do their friend wonders to hear a love confession from the CEO. "This isn't some business deal, Kaiba. How much longer do you expect him to wait? Do you know how long he had feelings for you?"

"Guys…"

"If you don't want Jou walking away from you with some other guy or girl then step up your games," Yugi continued, not paying attention to Jou. He was more concerned about the icy CEO that sat in chair across the room. "When that happens, what would you feel? Would you chase after him and beg him to come back with you? Would you let him go? Tell me, Kaiba."

"I'll beat that asshole to a bloody pulp for taking my puppy away from me!" Kaiba finally snapped. "I don't care if I have to lock him up in a tower like Rapunzel to keep him to myself. I'd do anything to protect him. No one would be able to hurt my beloved again. And when he smiles…"

"Seto!" Jou shouted, drawing everyone's attention to him. Tears collected at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He felt a dull pain surface, but he chose to ignore it. "Those words are for me and me alone. Don't say them here and with others present. Save them until we…" Jou paused, "return home."

Kaiba let his arms fall from his chest, and he gently took Jou's hand in his. "Alright." Kaiba pulled Jou's hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles. "As long as you promise not to flirt with the doctor."

Jou smiled softly. "No one could ever take me away from the man that saved me, but we'll have to talk about this whole comparing me to a princess thing. I'm not that defenseless."

A rare smile spread across Kaiba's face. "Maybe I want to be the hero that saves the damsel in distress."

"I'm going to get out of this bed and kick your ass if you keep calling me a girl! I mean seriously…" Jou's words were cut off with Kaiba sealing their lips together. Jou closed his eyes and felt his mind being washed away with the tide. He gently kissed back, reaching up to play with Kaiba's soft brown hair.

Kaiba licked Jou's bottom lip before breaking apart and leaning in close to Jou's ear. "If you were a girl, I would never be attracted to you. If you were one of those guys that relied too much on me, I'd never fall for you. I love you for the strong man you are. You are able to keep standing up even after someone beats you down. It is that strength that I most admire and love you for, but remember, if you fall and have trouble getting up, I'll be there to help you stand again," Kaiba whispered.

The tears that Jou thought he fought off ran down his cheeks. He brought Kaiba back up to kiss him again before wrapping his arms around the back of his neck. The CEO balanced himself on his arms to avoid putting any weight on the healing blond. He buried his head into Kaiba's shoulder. "I wish I could find words like that to repeat to you, but that wouldn't be me. Instead, I'll show you how much I love you." Jou moved his face back around to stare at Kaiba's bright blue eyes. He gave him a real smile for the first time in years. Jou's honey eyes glistened in the soft light of the room. The blond closed his eyes before sealing their lips again. He licked Kaiba's bottom lip, feeling the burnet giving control over to him. He slipped his tongue inside, coaxing Kaiba's into playing. They continued to kiss deeply, neither one wanted to let the other break apart to breath.

Feeling concern that he may be hurting Jou, Kaiba broke apart. "We'll do that more when your lung has healed." Jou nodded, already feeling his heart rate increasing and the pain spiking, but to him it was worth it.

Atemu stared wide eyed. "I think we need to go, Aibou. Jou, it's good to see you finally awake. We'll come and visit you tomorrow."

Atemu grabbed his smaller lover and pulled the protesting man out of the room, forgetting about the food that remained on the bed they sat on. Kaiba laughed at Jou's confused expression. "I think your friends need some alone time."

"What do you mean?"

The CEO laughed harder. "You really are like a stereotypical blond aren't you?"

"What!"

"Atemu's favorite leather pants aren't doing anything to hide his problem."

Jou gasped and threw one of his pillows at Kaiba. "I can't believe you. First you get jealous at my reaction to the doctor. Then you confess your love to me. And, now you're checking out my best friend's lover!"

Kaiba caught the pillow and placed it over his lap, glad to have something to hide his problem. Jou's kiss affected his body more than he anticipated. "Hard not to notice when he stood up. I'm more concerned about them making it home in time. I don't want to see them in the paper tomorrow, explaining that they were found in the back of the hospital or even on the bus ride home having sex."

Jou turned suddenly serious. "You'd be surprised at whose idea that would be." Jou smiled, remembering all the times he was out with them. "You see, Atemu would wait until they were alone and at home before he started anything. No matter how hard Yugi would try to make him do something in public, he wouldn't do anything, not even a kiss. Atemu would make it home. It's Yugi you have to be concerned about. When Yugi is in the mood, he doesn't care where he is or who can see him. He's jumping Atemu right then and there."

Kaiba's eyes widened, not expecting that from his ex-rival. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. I ran away from home once and decided to go to Yugi's house. Atemu answered the door. I could tell that he was suspicious of me showing up late that night, but he never questioned me. He made me a cup a tea. The thing is I didn't know I was interrupting them." Jou blushed deeply, remembering that entire night. "Yugi walked into the kitchen wearing only these tight leather pants and carrying a whip. Atemu didn't see him because he was fixing his own cup of tea. I was too shocked to warn Atemu. Yugi had him pinned to the counter and his wrists tied to the faucet faster than I could blink. Let's just say, I never ran away to their house again."

Kaiba blinked a few times, having trouble picturing Yugi as the more dominate one. "Trust me; I know what you're thinking. I thought the same thing. I questioned Atemu after a few days past. I don't know why I did. I was very curious because I've never seen Yugi like that. Apparently Yugi doesn't get in the mood like that very often. Maybe once a month. All the other times Atemu is the one in control," Jou continued.

"Do you think we can stop talking about this?"

"Why? Ohhh…" Jou said, finally noticing the tight hold Kaiba had on the pillow in his lap. "Do leather and a whip turn you on, Seto," Jou whispered seductively.

"Jounouchi, I'm warning you."

"Or what? Are you going to take me over your knee and spank me? I might like that."

Kaiba groaned. "Katsuya, please," Kaiba whispered, using Jou's first name to draw his attention to the fact that he was having trouble controlling himself. "I haven't slept well in a few days, and it's becoming difficult not to lock that door and say to hell with healing. I will remember this though. The first night that we're home and you are fully healed there will be pay back. I'll make sure none of the staff is home and Mokuba is at a friend's house that night."

Jou's smile vanished. "Where is Mokuba?"

"Roland has him at a safe house. I wanted to make sure he was protected because I didn't know what was happening to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I got home right after you fell into the table. At first, I thought your father broke in and was abusing you because you were screaming at him to forgive you and not hurt you. When I didn't find him in the same room as you, I had security comb the entire estate in search of an intruder. They didn't even finish the search when something magical happened. You were transported to your past life in Egypt."

"The slave."

"What?"

"I was a slave for Seth, but not."

"What do you remember?"

"It felt like I was dreaming or watching a movie. I remember the thunderstorm and getting scared. I remember hitting the table, but after that I don't recall what happened. When I opened my eyes again, I felt." Jou shuttered. "I felt strange. I could see this man having sex or raping this poor younger man that looked oddly like me except his eyes were a darker brown and his was tan. There was nothing in his eyes. He stared up at me if he saw me or the ceiling if he didn't. He never fought the man and did exactly what he was meant to do. It was like he had been doing that for years. I couldn't stand looking at those eyes or watching that man do that so I closed my eyes."

Kaiba slipped off the chair and sat on the bed next to Jou. "Did it bring back bad memories?"

Jou nodded. Tears rolled down his cheeks. "I know why he didn't fight. It was pointless. Once you're trapped beneath a man like that it only makes it worse if you fight."

"Did you fight your father and his friends?"

"At first, but then the pain was extreme. After awhile I just lied there like a whore. Like that man did."

"I thought I told you not to call yourself that. Atemu thought that this might have been one of the triggers that you used to escape from this world. You weren't over what your father did to you, were you?"

Jou shook his head. A quiet knock came from the doorway startling both men. A small woman wheeled in a cart with a tray of food on it. "They doctor said to start on something easy on your stomach. If this goes down okay, we can move you to something more solid. Okay?"

"Yes, thank you," Jou said softly. He didn't feel hungry anymore.

Kaiba walked over to the tray of food and pulled the table so it sat directly in front of Jou. "You need to eat something, Katsuya. I know you probably don't feel like it right now, but try for me. We can talk about this whole thing more tomorrow after you've eaten and rested."

Jou gave Kaiba a soft smile. "You won't leave my side?"

"That's why you have a room with two beds and a comfortable chair." Jou took the spoon from the tray and started to slowly eat the food. He had trouble swallowing everything, but he didn't want to worry Kaiba by not eating all of the food. Once he was finished eating, a nurse came in to administer another dose of medicine. The two didn't talk much like the first night Jou awoke in the mansion after Kaiba saved him from his house. They were comfortable with the silence. The blond slowly fell to sleep, allowing the medication to ease his pain.

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If you laughed sometime through this chapter I did great my comedy element LOL I'm really got at making people life in real life but horrible at writing it. Anyway, the next chapter may be out today or early tomorrow. I'm going to try to slow down with editing so I don't miss things. Thank you for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you FantasyWriter93, Bankroll1001 and RainingHearts4Ever, for your kind reviews. This is another part of the rollercoaster ride. I hope you're having fun.

Warnings: Slight language and violence.

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Chapter Ten

Several weeks went by before the doctor gave Jou the okay to leave. Jou had been fidgety the entire time. He hated being in the hospital. He feared that they would discover his secrets and lock him away. Jou glanced over at Kaiba who sat in the chair next to the bed with his laptop on top of his crossed legs. He had been working for several hours on it. He turned his gaze up to the television. The news was on, but Jou could barely hear it. He had turned it down earlier so it wouldn't disturb the CEO while he worked. Kaiba had dismissed the security when the doctor said that Jou was going to be released. He wanted them to search everywhere in the mansion for anything amiss. Even though Jou said it was his imagination, Kaiba didn't want to take any chances. Roland had prepared Mokuba for his return to the mansion and now waits for Kaiba's call to bring his younger brother back home. Life seemed to be returning to normal, especially after the long talk Jou and Kaiba had.

Jou hissed and clenched his head. "Another memory?" Kaiba asked softly.

"When you get memories from Seth, do they feel like a strange pounding?"

"Sometimes. It depends on what the memory was. If it was just flashes of knowledge, then no, but flashes of memories always do."

"Do you still have those sometimes?"

"Not so much. I received most of Seth's memories before I graduated. Recently I've been getting flashes of memories between Seth and Jono, but that only started after we went back and got you. What did you remember?"

Jou blushed and looked away from Kaiba for a few seconds. He sighed and glanced down at his hands. "They didn't have long to be together, but what they did with that time was truly amazing." Jou smiled, remembering some of the events. "I think it took Jono a month to warm up to Seth. Seth never let him sleep anywhere else besides his bedroom. That scared Jono into thinking that he would be both a stable slave and a bed slave, but Seth never took him or made any indications that he wanted sex. After awhile, Jono yelled at him. He thought instantly that he would be executed for disobeying not only his master but the high priest. He was surprised by Seth's words. He said…"

"There is the life in those beautiful eyes I've been waiting to see," Kaiba finished. "Seth was ecstatic when Jono finally snapped at him. He had been struggling with how to tell Jono that everything was alright. That he loved him; Jono, a simple slave that he bought. At first, Seth couldn't believe that he fell in love with Jono and even cursed his own life for doing that. It was Atemu's words that made him realize that he couldn't control who he loved. After the assassination group was formed, they forced Atemu into a union with a woman. They wanted him to bare a child so they could hide the child away. They feared that something would happen to him and wanted to be certain that a boy would take his place."

Kaiba placed his laptop on the nearby table and walked over to sit on the bed with Jou. "No matter how many times they sent the new queen into his chambers, Atemu was not able to have an heir with her. Days went by and Seth found him in the garden with no guards as if asking for someone to take his life. That's when Atemu told Seth that it didn't matter who Seth loved that he should pursue that person. Nothing could ever be worse than making love to a woman you have no feelings for every night. That's why Seth waited for Jono. When they finally made love, it was like fireworks. Nothing could split them apart except for a sharp arrow."

Kaiba placed his hand over where Jou's wound was. Jou placed his hand over Kaiba's and squeezed it. "Our outcome will not be like that."

Kaiba smiled and leaned down to kiss Jou. Just as he was about to close his eyes and enjoy Jou's lips, a flash a light filled the room. Kaiba broke apart quickly only to catch a small glimpse of someone running away. "Shit," Kaiba cursed, reaching for his cellphone. "I need a statement prepare," he said not letting the person on the other line speak. "Someone got a picture of me and my new boyfriend kissing. If possible, I need that picture stopped before it's released." He paused, listening to the explanation. "Understood."

"Seto?"

Kaiba held up one finger as he dialed another number. "Roland, bring my brother home now and have security surround the estate. They got a picture of Katsuya and me. You can't be serious. Fine, just get him home safely." Kaiba smiled, hearing his brother shouting in the background. "Tell him we'll talk when I get home." Kaiba squeezed Jou's hand as he hung up the phone. "Everything will be fine. The press already knew I was gay."

"When? We haven't been out of school that long, and I would remember if something like that happened when we were still in class together."

"It happened about a month before I saw you in that restaurant. The night that I was sick was day thirty of trying to clean everything up. Some of my business associates wanted to cut ties with me because of my sexual orientation, but I managed to convince them all to remain with Kaiba Corp. I even got my stock to rise higher than it was."

Jou smiled at how proud Kaiba was for something like that. He had to admit that it was impressive that Kaiba managed to recover from something like that being leaked to the press. He heard about a few famous people losing half of their support because of something like that, but here Kaiba sat next to him, barely affected by everyone finding out he was gay. "How did they find out?"

Kaiba chuckled. "Sometimes my anger gets the better of me. It was one of those rare times that I got home early enough to eat dinner with Mokuba. We decided to go out instead of eating in. Mokuba said it was better for my image if someone saw us having a good time. We were in an arcade eating pizza and playing games. The music was loud so we had to shout to hear each other. I wasn't having a good time, but Mokuba was and that's all that mattered. He had just sat down after our pizza arrived, and he started harassing me about finding a good woman to marry. It wasn't the first time he tried to marry me off, but I never told him that I was gay. That was one secret I kept from him. He just thought I was too focused on work to go looking for a girlfriend. He kept pointing out all the girls that he thought was cute that I worked with and the famous girls that wouldn't mind me calling them up. I was growing more and more frustrated and I didn't expect the music to stop suddenly and change to another song. I shouted, 'Mokie, I'm gay' thinking that no one would hear me except for him with the loud music."

Kaiba laughed. "My advisor kept telling me that since no one recorded me saying that, I could just deny everything. I went against him and announced it publicly a few days later." Jou pressed his lips together and bit his tongue, trying not to upset Kaiba by laughing. "You can laugh. I'm not upset about it. They had to find out sometime."

Jou busted out laughing. He continued to laugh for several long minutes. "Let me guess, you never went back into that place."

"Nope, but Mokuba had a blast about it. I came home after the press conference to find a book of men to choose from. He told me that he wasn't sure if they were all gay, but I better get to work before all the good ones are gone."

"You have your hands full."

"It's worse now that he's a teenager and can understand sex. So be prepared for whatever he says when we get home. We'll have our hands full."

"No way. I know in a relationship you are supposed to share, but that is one baggage I'm not sharing with you."

"Trust me, you won't have a choice."

The nurse walked in with a clipboard and handed it to Jou. "Alright, Mr. Jounouchi, sign those papers and you're good to go. The last sheet you keep. It's your follow up information." Jou smiled, scribbling his name on all the sheets. He kept the last sheet and glanced between the nurse and Kaiba. "Okay. You are free to go. Now, don't let me see you back here any time soon unless it's for a check up, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

Jou was out of the bed and by the door waiting for Kaiba to pack his laptop away before the nurse even got back to her station. He turned suddenly serious, remembering something important just as Kaiba walked up to him. "Do you think your people will catch that photo before it gets released?"

"It's all over the web already." Jou frowned and glanced to the ground as he walked. "What's wrong?"

"My father. He'll know where I am now."

"Don't worry. Even if he does, he won't be able to get pass the security."

"I hope so. He knows a lot of bad people."

"I'll be there to protect you." Kaiba placed his hand on Jou's back and guided him through the hospital. He frowned at feeling the slightly tremble in Jou's form. He couldn't believe that his father scared him that much. The CEO began to wonder if there was something more than just the physical abuse of the past and that horrific event that led the blond to live with him. Apparently Jou's father planted fear so deep into Jou's heart that he could never feel safe.

The elevator opened on the bottom floor. Two of Kaiba's security came up to them. "Kaiba-sama, the press is already outside."

"Give me a second." Kaiba turned to Jou. "I need you to do exactly as I say. They will not hurt you even though they may seem pushy. Don't touch them or say anything to them. One of the security guards will be right beside you holding onto your one side. I'll be on your other. Just focus on the limo and get in as fast as you can. I'll get in second. Okay?" Jou nodded, still not meeting Kaiba's eyes. Kaiba glanced back to make sure the security was blocking them from view. "Katsuya, I love you." He tilted Jou's chin up and kissed him gently. "Ready?"

Jou nodded again. The security separated and stood on either side of Jou and Kaiba. Kaiba kept his one arm behind Jou's back and his other hand on Jou's arm. The security pushed their way through the mob of press. Kaiba ignored the hundred of questions and moved Jou towards the limo. His driver opened the door just as Jou got in, followed closely behind Kaiba. The door shut, sealing off the countless voices. The two security men stood by the door and waited for the limo to pull away. Jou sighed. "You go through that all the time?"

"Not all the time. Just when they get a vital piece of information. In a few days everything will die down and life will return to normal."

"Like yesterday's news."

"Exactly. It'll be different when we get home. They can't get pass the gates. Once we get there, the limo will pull into the garage, and we can get out like normal."

"Is all your security guards nice?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you left the room this morning to talk to the doctor, I was really bored so I walked over to talk to the two security men. I wanted to apologize for causing them any grief. I don't know if any of them have family, but it must be difficult to be away from them for so long. They had a lot of respect for you. Then, the one standing by me told me how many feet until the limo. He kept squeezing my hand with each step."

Seto smiled softly. "A lot of them have been with me for a long time. My adopted father was horrible to his security. He didn't care about them at all. It was their job to protect him and that's what he got. After I took over, I rearranged the security. I sat down with each one of them and found out about their family if they had it and if they wished to stay with me. The ones that wanted out, I tore up the contract that had them bind to Gozaburo and gave them a huge severance pay. The ones that stayed were separated between ones with families, expected to have families, and no families. The ones with families are all the ones that you find in Kaiba Corp. They work through the day and go home. The ones that expect to have a family protect the mansion. They take shifts and switch weeks between who gets the nights and who gets the days. As for the last ones, they are the ones that always protect me, Mokuba, and now you. I pay them well and give them whatever they need because without them, I'd fear for Mokuba's and your life constantly."

Jou stared at Kaiba through new light. He never knew that the CEO would do so much to keep people happy. All through high school, he always thought Kaiba was nothing more than a cold-hearted CEO. Even with that knowledge Jou fell for him, but he never thought he'd have the chance to be with him. "Does anyone know you treat your security like that?"

"No. It's apart of the whole fear thing. In order to keep people from trying to kill me, I have to keep them afraid of approaching me. The person I am at work is completely different from the person I am at home."

"I could tell." Jou smiled and leaned against Kaiba. "I'm happy I finally got to meet the real you. I never thought I could fall deeper in love with you, but I somehow managed."

Kaiba wrapped his arm around Jou and held him close. The two were about to share another kiss when there was a giant explosion caused the car to screech and spin out of control. The two were thrown about in the back, crashing with the doors and seats. Once the car stopped, Kaiba moved towards Jou only to have both doors open. Arms grabbed Kaiba, pulling him away from Jou and out the door. "Katsuya!" he shouted, struggling with the people that held him. They pushed and pulled him around the back of the limo. Kaiba continued to struggle, but the man holding him secured his arms behind his back and placed a knife to his throat.

Kaiba saw Jou continuing to free himself from the people trying to control him. He landed several punches, before the man behind Kaiba bellowed, "Hey, you worthless son. That's enough." Jou's eyes widened as he stared at Kaiba and his father. He dropped his arms to his side and let the men behind him push him to his knees. One man knelt behind him and grabbed his arms with one hand and pulled his hair back, forcing him to look up at his father. "You thought you could hide from me, boy. You're all over the fucking news." Kaiba hissed as the blade cut slightly into his neck. Jou knew better than to answer his father. Sirens could be heard approaching. "Load him up in the van."

"What about the driver?" the man standing next to Jou questioned.

"Kill him."

"No!" Kaiba shouted, struggling to move, but the knife slid into his neck more.

"Stupid billionaire." The knife was removed from his neck. The handle collided with the back of his neck. Kaiba fell to the ground, seeing Jou being carried away by two people. He heard a gunshot before darkness engulfed him.

The man that shot the drive walked up to the elder Jounouchi. "What about him?"

"He comes. He's worth millions for his safe return." The older blond chuckled. "Plus did you see the color of his eyes? Lots of people will pay thousands of dollars to fuck him. It's rare to find someone in Japan with his features." The sirens grew louder. "Quickly, get him in the van."

The man picked Kaiba up and threw him in the back before slamming and locking the door. Jou pulled his lover into his lap, looking at the cut on his neck. He took his jacket off and pressed it into the slightly bleeding wound. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "So sorry."

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The next chapter should be up soon. I'll be going back to work soon. Boo-hoo. So I'm going to try to fix and upload the chapters as fast as I can. Once I'm back at work, I won't be able to work on them until after I get home. Thank you all for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	11. Chapter 11

Wow I have a long list of thank yous for this morning. Thank you dragonlady222 for your four reviews. I hope you are recovery quickly. Thank you RainingHearts4Ever, FantasyWriter93, Nagareboshi-Lover, bankroll1001, and Mimi-senpai for your wonderful reviews. You guys are awesome!

Warnings: Mentions of sexual situations, language, and extreme violence

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Chapter Eleven

Jou didn't know if he should feel more grateful for the fact that not only did his father and his goons not severely hurt him or Kaiba, but they placed him and Kaiba in the same room. Jou pulled the unconscious burnet further in his lap. It was already uncomfortable sitting on the cold floor and he wanted to give the burnet as much comfort he could. He sighed as he felt Kaiba's body shiver. The blond pulled Kaiba's legs closer to him and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm trying to keep you warm, but I need you to wake up first," Jou mumbled. Thankfully the cut on Kaiba's throat wasn't deep and it already stopped bleeding.

The door opened quickly followed by the flash of a bright light turning on. Jou placed Kaiba gently down on the ground and stood up. He glared at the man he once called his father. Three other men came around his father. "Don't do anything stupid, boy."

Jou pulled his arms up to his chest. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt Kaiba. "You will not have him."

The elder Jounouchi laughed. "And you think you can stop us? Get the pretty boy."

Jou growled low. He side stepped the first punch and kicked the second guy in the stomach. The man fell instantly from the force. The third tried to grab Jou, but he fell to the blond's fist. The fight lasted for a long time. Jou never tired. He kept them away from Kaiba, landing more hits than receiving them. Jou's father sighed. "Good help is hard to find."

He walked up to his son and landed punches in the places he knew Jou was weak in. One of the men grabbed Kaiba's leg and started to pull him away from the protected area that Jou had him in. His father grabbed his wrist when Jou tried to move away from him. He turned it the opposite angle, nearly breaking the brittle bone. Jou screamed and attempted to pull his wrist from his father's grip.

Kaiba's eyes flashed opened, and he kicked the man that was dragging him away, breaking his nose. Another man ran over to Kaiba, trying to prevent him from breaking free. The CEO turned quickly and punched him right in the jaw even though his head was still slightly fuzzy. He turned to the other man who stood back, waiting for an opening. Kaiba glared at the older blond man that held Jou firmly in his grasp. "Release him."

"You are in no position to make demands."

"If you want something from me than I am in the perfect position. You would never get a ransom from my brother. He doesn't have the resources to access the money. Now, release him," Kaiba lied.

Jou's father laughed. "What makes you think I'm after a ransom?"

Kaiba's glare never left his face. "You'd be stupid if you didn't."

"Maybe we are taking your ransom out of your ass."

Jou pulled at his arm and slammed his free fist into his father's head. "I won't let you do that to him." The elder blond slammed his son into the floor, flipping his arm behind his back and slamming his heeled boot into Jou's back. Jou bit his lip, wanting not to show his pain. Kaiba moved a few feet, but the three men surrounded him.

"Now, I'll release Katsuya if you come with us."

Kaiba sighed and nodded. "No, Seto, don't!" Jou barely pushed the words past his lips.

The three men led Kaiba out of the room while Jou's father leaned down and pulled his son off the ground. "You listen closely, you worthless son. If you try to fight back again, I'll make sure your new boyfriend knows exactly what kind of whore you are. After that, you'll watch as I fuck him over and over again before slicing his throat. Understand?" the older man asked, shaking Jou. The blond nodded and frowned. "Good." The older Jounouchi threw Jou at the wall before walking out, locking the door behind him.

Jou curled up against the wall finally letting one tear fall. The pain he was in was horrendous. The only thing he was grateful for was the fact that his father didn't do any damage to his spine. He didn't know what he would do if he was paralyzed. The lights in the room were turned off, leaving Jou to his thoughts. He shuttered at the thought of what they were doing to Kaiba. Memories of what his father did to him crept into his mind, and before he knew it he was reliving every single minute of it in that dark room.

Minutes or hours went by, Jou didn't know. The pain was slowly easing to a dull ache and sore muscles. The door finally opened as two man threw Kaiba into the still dark room. Jou got up quickly, ignoring his stiff muscles and ran over to Kaiba. "Seto, are you okay?" Jou, with adjusted eyes to the darkness, watched the burnet's form move away from his touch and slid over to the nearest wall.

"I'm fine." Kaiba's voice was scratchy and hollow.

Jou bit his lip. "Did they?" The blond moved slower, watching every move Kaiba made. He didn't want to scare him and didn't know what state of mind he was in.

Kaiba shuttered and shook his head. Those two little words brought back the memories he was trying to forget on the way back to the room. "Not all the way," he whispered.

Jou moved again but the burnet moved further, attempting to keep the same distance between the two of them. "Talk to me, Seto. Let me help you," Jou softly whispered. He held his hand out to Kaiba.

Kaiba stared at the hand, his eyes starting to adjust to the darkness. The CEO knew that Jou wouldn't do anything to hurt him, but the mere thought of someone else touching him made him remain in his position. He took a few deep breaths and buried his fear. Even through the torment of his thoughts, Kaiba knew he craved one thing. He needed someone to comfort him and that sickened him. He prided himself into being strong and able to stand up after every major event in his life.

Jou watched him carefully, never lowering his hand. He understood what Kaiba could be going through. He remembered everything he thought about after waking up in the mansion. Jou licked his lips and stared up at Kaiba's eyes. "I know you must think you're a coward if you showed your tears or fear. I know you carve the comfort from someone you care about, but you're afraid of having flashbacks of what happened. You're afraid that by dropping your guard you'll end up in the same situation again. Please, Seto."

Kaiba moved slowly, letting his fingers slide along Jou's hand before finding that his unconscious will won. He wrapped his arms around Jou's waist and sank his face into his chest. He didn't cry, but his body continued to shake. Jou ran his fingers up and down Kaiba's arms and shoulders. He didn't want to wrap them around Kaiba for fear of making the CEO feel trapped. He spread his legs and allowed Kaiba to move to a more comfortable position.

"They took nude pictures of me," Kaiba whispered. Jou moved one hand to the burnet's back and made soothing circles into it. "They put me in horrific positions that made me want to vomit. Then, they made me…" Kaiba's voice cracked, and he felt a tear roll down his cheek. "I had to suck them. I can still taste it in my mouth."

"I'm sorry, Seto. I'm so sorry. You should have never came for me. You'd be safe at home if you didn't." The blond wrapped his arms and legs around Kaiba, not noticing that he was curling around the burnet.

Kaiba fought internally with himself. He can't lie and say that he never thought it wasn't worth saving Jou. He frowned and fought with his thoughts before wrapping his arms around Jou. "Don't say that. I'm not regretting saving you." Those two sentences were the hardest thing to say, but he found them to be the truth. Deep down he knew he didn't regret helping Jou. He knew it was the right thing, but his internal demons were trying to force him away from Jou. He wanted to blame someone for his suffering and being trapped in that room, but it was unfair to place it on Jou who was equally a victim as he was.

Kaiba instantly pushed Jou away, feeling bile starting to rise. He ran to the corner of the room and vomited everything that was inside of his stomach. Jou was behind the trembling man in a second. He held the standing CEO up while he continued emptying his stomach. Speaking quiet words of comfort and apologizes, Jou ran his fingers up and down Kaiba's back. After awhile, Kaiba's legs gave out, and he fell into Jou's waiting arms. The blond helped him over to the other side of the room and sat down on the cold floor. He pulled Kaiba into his lap much like he did when they first arrive. Anger boiled in the blond's blood, but he didn't show it in his gentle touches. He hated his father more than he thought he could. The murderous vengeance that plagued his thoughts kept him occupied long after Kaiba finally fell asleep.

Jou glared at door directly in front of him. He willed it to open and reveal his father. He didn't care how careless or dangerous the plan was. He was going to kill his father one way or the other. Jou leaned his head against the wall behind him. His eyes burned and felt heavy, but he refused to close them. Kaiba shifted in his lap, whimpering in his sleep. Jou brushed the brown locks that covered Kaiba's closed eyes. He reached beside him for his jacket he forgot about earlier. Wrapping it around Kaiba's upper body, Jou eased Kaiba deeper into slumber. The longer his new lover could stay free of this place the better.

The lights flashed on suddenly causing Kaiba to jerk awake and grip Jou's arm. Jou flashed him a soft smile and placed his hand over Kaiba's. He helped the burnet to stand, making sure he was partly in front of the CEO. Kaiba growled. "I don't need you protecting me."

Jou smiled softly and moved more to stand beside Kaiba. "Natural habit, but don't think I won't protect you from him."

Kaiba stared up at Jou's honey eyes. Something was different about them. It was as if the fear wasn't present. The door slammed opened. The same three men and Jou's father walked in. The older blond had a smile on his face. "I got someone interested in your lover already. I knew he'd be worth more on his back with his legs spread than any stupid ransom."

Jou sneered and glared at his father. The three men walked from behind the elder Jounouchi. Jou reached down and picked his jacket up. Kaiba glanced at Jou, unsure what the shorter man was planning. Finally noticing the tight grip Jou had on the jacket, Kaiba understood what he was using it for. Even though the jacket wouldn't cause much damage in a front attack, it could be used to strangle people. Except that would take too long. "Grab my new toy."

The three men snickered and walked towards the two. Jou's eyes flashed dangerously between the men. The first man tried to grab Kaiba, but his hand didn't even come close. Jou wrapped his jacket around the arm and pulled it behind the man's back. He kicked the second one away, reaching down to his boot. Kaiba dodged the third man, punching him in the jaw. He looked back just in time to see Jou pull something sharp out of his boot. He slid it across the captured man's throat. The cut wasn't deep enough to kill the man instantly, but enough to cause a waterfall of dripping blood to fall down his throat.

Jou pushed the man away. The other two in the room froze. Kaiba looked at Jou's bloody hand and found the cartridge to a box cutter in it. "What are you waiting for?" Jou's father yelled. The two men lunged for Jou. The blond simply moved to the left. The dark haired one recovered quickly and tried to punch Jou. Jou grabbed his arm and flipped it around until his wrist was facing up. He took the blade and slid it across the man's wrists. The man screamed and pulled his hand away.

The second man tried to come up behind Jou, but Kaiba moved faster. He kicked him in the stomach. Kaiba grabbed him by the arm and slammed him into the cold floor. Before the man could recover, Kaiba had his neck pinned under his foot, cutting off his air supply. Jou stared at Kaiba for a few seconds. He was impressed that Kaiba could fight like that. He knew Kaiba always had a strong posture, but didn't think the burnet would ever do anything that could kill a person. Jou turned to the other two men. The first one was still gripping his neck, attempting to get the blood to stop while the second one was wrapping his wrist with his own shirt. The elder Jounouchi growled and glared at his son. "You fucking bastard. You had to make this difficult." The blond pulled out a gun from his pocket and shot his son in the left shoulder before anyone could react. Jou slammed into the wall behind him, gripping his throbbing shoulder.

Kaiba gasped and turned slightly towards Jou, giving the man below him enough room to breath. The man grabbed Kaiba's ankle and pulled him down to the ground. Kaiba rolled onto his back and kicked the man in the face. Tears sprang from the man's eyes as his nose was broken. Kaiba moved quickly over to Jou and placed his hand over the bleeding wound. Jou hissed from the pain. "Protect yourself," he whispered.

Kaiba placed himself in between the two blonds. He saw the elder Jounouchi pointing his gun again. He refused to let the man hurt Jou anymore. "Are we done playing games? You client will be here soon." The older man approached Kaiba, still pointing the gun at Jou.

"I don't think so," Jou growled. He pulled Kaiba until the CEO was behind him and launched himself at his father. Jou's father moved the gun up in the air and slammed it down on the back of Jou's neck. The blond fell quickly.

"Katsuya!" Kaiba shouted. "You asshole!" Kaiba ran across the room and tackled the older blond. He punched Jou's father in the face over and over again until someone grabbed his arms and pulled him off the man.

Kaiba struggled against the people holding him. "Take the bitch upstairs, strip him, and chain him to the bed." The elder Jounouchi spit his blood on the floor. "Then take my worthless son upstairs to the same room." The older blond gripped Kaiba's chin. "I want the first thing he hears and sees when he wakes is this bitch's screams. After the client leaves, he can watch as all of you play with Katsuya. It'll teach both of them to fight back." Kaiba glared at the man, refusing to show the fear he felt. "Get those two to the hospital before they bleed to death." The blond let go of Kaiba's chin and spat more blood on the floor. "Make sure you wrap that wound on his shoulder. Can't have that stupid son bleeding to death before his punishment."

The two men that came in without Kaiba noticing, pulled him up the long flight of stairs he walked up earlier. He heard someone walking behind him, and he tried to turn to see if it was Jou, but the men tugged on his arms. The walked down a long hallway with cracked wooden floors and no carpet was quiet. They passed several doors before the men opened one. It creaked as it hit the wall behind it. Kaiba saw the dirty bed and started to pull on his arms again. The grips on his wrists tightened. They pulled him over to the bed. One of the men pushed on his back until the other one got his left wrist into one of the cuffs. He pulled the chain until Kaiba fell on the bed, giving them enough chance to lock the other wrist above his head.

Kaiba kicked and struggled, but it was useless. They had him secured to the bed, arms above his head and legs locked to the posts at the end of the bed. He tried to pull at the restraints, but all they did was click against the metal headrest and the metal posts.

Two other men walked in with the unconscious blond. They quickly removed the clothes from Jou's body, using part of his shirt to wrap around his wounded shoulder. They glanced around for a place to put him. "I know," the man with long hair said, snickering as he left the room. He returned with a chair movements later. Kaiba's eyes widen at seeing something that looked like a dildo sticking up from the back of the seat.

"Great idea," the other man standing beside Kaiba's head said. The long haired man lifted Jou up and dropped him down on the chair. Jou unconsciously groaned but didn't wake. The man lifted Jou's legs enough to see underneath him. He smirked at the blood that was dripping down the dildo.

"Aw, the poor little blond is hurt. It'll teach the whore to try and escape," he snickered. "I'll tie him down. Get that bitch's clothes off."

"With pleasure," the man beside Kaiba's head said. He pulled out a switchblade and sliced Kaiba's jacket and shirt off his chest while the other man started to work on his shoes, socks, and pants. The two men stripping him ran their fingers over his naked flesh. "I can't wait until the boss says we can have you. I want to pound my cock into that tight ass of yours," the same man sneered. "Have fun tonight, princess. Be good."

The four men left the room. Kaiba shivered and glanced at Jou. The blond's head remained lowered, and his limbs were firmly tied to the chair. "Katsuya," Kaiba whispered, feeling the hope he had washing away from him. He was grateful that Jou wasn't awake when they slammed him down in the chair. He couldn't imagine the pain Jou was in.

The door opened a few moments later revealing a chubby man in a suit. He held a whip in his hand and a suitcase in the other. "Let's play, gorgeous." Kaiba closed his eyes and turned his face away from the man. He silently prayed to the gods that Jou wouldn't wake in the middle of his torment. A tear rolled down his cheek as he realized that there was nothing he could do to prevent this.

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A warning for the next chapter. It's going to be hard to swallow and I thought of deleting it several times but there are a lot of things about Kaiba and Jou's personality I like in it. That chapter will be up later on tonight. Thank you for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	12. Chapter 12

Let me start off by apologizing greatly. It was brought to my attention that Jou's father seems like a different person from the beginning, but that is entirely my fault for two reasons. One beginning that I've switched the story from the second chapter and started changing things and the other reason is because I'm holding secrets. I greatly apologize for that. An explanation to Jou's father is coming, some of the explanation is in chapter sixteen and the rest is in chapter eighteen. Again I'm really sorry. Sometimes I get so wrapped up my stories that I forget about things.

Thank you dragonlady222, Lily272, FantasyWriter93, and Nagareboshi-Lover for your kind reviews.

Warnings: This is a very hard chapter to read. There's rape and abuse for both Jou and Kaiba. If this bothers you please skip the first part of this chapter until you see my lovely H's again. For those who chose to read this chapter please know that there is a happy ending for Jou and Kaiba. Also there's language.

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Chapter Twelve

Jou's awareness began to return to him. Slowly his senses returned to him. He heard grunts and creaking from something or someone. He tried to move his hands to reach his throbbing head, but he noticed that he couldn't move anything besides his fingers and toes. He tried to get up, but something shifted inside of him. A painful groaned unleashed from his lips. "Looks like our guest is awake, gorgeous," a deep voice said.

Jou instantly opened his eyes. The image in front of him caused his stomach to flip and the anger to boil again. Kaiba was on his knees on the bed. His face was buried into the pillow in-between his chained arms. The blob of a man held Kaiba's hips and continued to thrust into the CEO at an alarming speed. Jou could smell the blood and semen in the room. He frowned, wondering how long Kaiba had been enduring the torture. The man stiffened and released inside of Kaiba. He released the burnet who crashed with the bed below him.

The man moved off the trembling brunet. Jou could see angry welts on Kaiba's back. Blood and semen was leaking out of Kaiba. Jou moved again and had to bit his lip to stop the painful cry from escaping. Something was painfully inside of him. He glanced up in time to see the man inject something into his member, causing it to instantly grow and leak with pre-cum. He rolled Kaiba onto his painful back and slapped him several times on the cheek, leaving red handprints. "Stop!" Jou shouted.

The man glanced over at Jou. "I don't think so, Blondie. I paid for five whole hours, and I'm going to get every minute of it." He grabbed Kaiba's hair and moved his leaking member in front of his face. "Come on, gorgeous. You still have a half hour." He pulled Kaiba up until half of his back was against the headrest. The chunky man pushed his member into Kaiba's mouth. The CEO gagged and tried to move his face away from it. The man gripped his hair and kept him firmly in place. His other hand gripped the metal headrest and thrust into the warm mouth. Jou politely averted his eyes, but couldn't do anything about blocking the gagging noises. A tear rolled down Jou's cheek as he thought about how much pain Kaiba must be in to have already endured over four hours of this torment. "Suck on it, baby. This is our last time tonight. Make me fell good. Fucking bitch." Jou squeezed his eyes shut, hearing another slap followed by coughing.

Jou glanced back at Kaiba as he recovered. His eyes met with Kaiba's for a few seconds before the man grabbed the burnet's hips and pushed into Kaiba's abused hole. Jou nodded to Kaiba, silently telling him that it was okay to scream and cry. Even though Jou knew Kaiba wouldn't hold back because of him being in the room, but he wanted to let the burnet know that he still thought of him the same way. "I won't think any less of you," Jou thought. Kaiba closed his eyes, finally letting the tears to fall. He unleashed a painful scream. Jou bit his lip and held back his own tears while he watched the strong burnet fall apart in front of him. He silently vowed to piece Kaiba back together again. The man grunted and released inside of Kaiba again just as the door opened.

Jou's father entered, smirking at the state Kaiba was in. "Times up. Get out." The chunky man grabbed his things and walked out of the room without a word. "This would have been easier on the two of you if you didn't fight me. I only rented him out for an hour but changed my mind after I had to pay for two more of my men's hospital bills." The older blond approached Jou. "Are you enjoying that chair? That's the only preparation you're going to get before your punishment comes." He walked over to Kaiba and released him. The burnet instantly wrapped his sore arms around his legs and curled up. "I don't think so. You're going to watch his punishment." The elder Jounouchi pulled Kaiba up until he sat in his lap. Kaiba hissed, not liking the rough treatment. "The tape your client got was very erotic. I think I'll have to rent that out to people. It'll get all of us more money." Jou's father grabbed Kaiba's member. "You never came. Does this thing even work?" Kaiba shuttered as the man pumped him. The older man smirked as he saw Kaiba's member come to life. "So it does."

"Get your hands off him!" Jou hissed.

His father glared at him and whistled. "I think it's time for your punishment." The four men that both Kaiba and Jou hurt sometime during their captivity entered the room. They all had their bandages around their wounds. The elder Jounouchi continued to stroke Kaiba. The CEO closed his eyes, attempting to keep himself from releasing. Kaiba unleashed a painful groan as the man gripped his member. "You watch ever second of this," Jou's father hissed into his ear. "You'd never be in the situation if you would have left him there. The one you should hate is that worthless dog. Someone told me I should use him like the whore he is and I planned to do just that but you just had to steal him away for yourself." The blond chuckled. "Nice try."

The men grabbed Jou and released him from his bonds. They pulled him free of the chair. Jou groaned, feeling the dildo being ripped from of his already torn passage. The pain and numbness left Jou unable to fight back. The men were already shedding their clothes. The one man grabbed Jou and pulled his back against his chest. He slid his member into Jou's bleeding passage. Another man knelt in front of Jou and pushed his legs far apart. He slid into Jou as well, thrusting with the other man. The pain was too intense for Jou to hold the scream back.

Kaiba moved wanting to save the blond and forgetting everything he went through. Jou's father grabbed his waist and pulled him back into his waiting member. Kaiba screamed as he was entered again. He couldn't take the pain anymore. The older blond held him in place with one hand while the other one stroked Kaiba's member. He knew that he wouldn't be able to get through this torment without releasing.

The other two men shoved their members into Jou's mouth, causing him to gag. They alternated, pushing Jou's face between the two of them. It didn't take long for the four to release their semen all over Jou and inside of him. They pushed him onto the floor and started to dress. Jou coughed and dry heaved. His entire body was sore, and his rectum was severely bleeding. Kaiba released into the elder Jounouchi's hand. His tormentor followed closely after him, leaving him to his own misery. The five men left just as quickly as they entered, not bothering to secure their two captives. The door slammed shut with a loud click of the lock.

Kaiba moved his tired, sore body over to the edge of the bed. "Katsuya," he whimpered. Jou hadn't moved from the spot that they threw him at. Kaiba called his name several times before finding the strength to get off the bed. He walked over to the blond. Jou's eyes stared at a random place on the floor. "Katsuya," Kaiba whispered again, pulling Jou into his arms with strength he didn't know he still had. He knew touching Jou might have severe consequences, but he needed to feel Jou's warmth and wanted proof that the blond was still alive.

Jou reacted, wrapping his arms around Kaiba instead of pushing him away. "Seto," he said in barely a whisper. The two cried in each other's arms, ignoring the physical pain for the time being. After a few minutes, Kaiba felt his body cramping and knew he wouldn't be able to make it back to the bed if he didn't move them soon.

"The bed," he said. The blond nodded, pulling himself up on shaky feet. He lost his balance and fell into the wall. Kaiba tried to hold him up, but the adrenaline he felt was fading. "Just a few steps, Katsuya." Kaiba struggled to keep them both on their feet as they crossed the small area to the bed. They crashed onto it, Kaiba completely on it and Jou half on the floor. He pulled the blond the rest of the way. He rolled Jou onto his stomach and sighed. With all the struggle, he didn't feel himself still bleeding. "I need to see if you're still bleeding. Will you let me?" Jou nodded, trusting Kaiba more than anyone.

Kaiba moved towards the bottom of the bed and gently parted Jou's cheeks. He frowned and hissed at the damage done. Jou squirmed, but voiced no complaint. "I'm going to put my finger up there to check for fresh blood. Is that okay?" Again Jou simply nodded. He knew that Kaiba was only trying to help him and didn't want to fight. Kaiba placed his dirty finger into his mouth, cleaning off the dirt and moistening it as much as possible. He slid his finger into Jou and quickly removed it after a few seconds, hearing the slight hiss coming from the blond. He sighed with relief that there was only a small amount of blood on his finger, hoping that it was signs that Jou was going to be okay. He moved over and sat beside Jou. "I think your stopping. I didn't see much blood."

Jou shifted his head. "What about you? How can you still have strength?"

Kaiba smiled softly at him. "I guess I'm worried about you and that's giving me the strength to continue. I'm not bleeding anymore and I didn't get shot before this."

"Did he really torture you for five hours?"

Kaiba frowned. "Felt like longer," he answered honestly.

"You have more strength than I do."

"Don't say that." Kaiba leaned down and kissed Jou's cheek. "We have the same amount of strength. You have a lot of physical endurance. Mine is more emotional." Kaiba lied down beside him. Wincing, Jou shifted to his side and pulled Kaiba back into his arms. The comfort he felt from holding Kaiba or being in his arms was enough to take away some of the pain. Kaiba ran his fingers through Jou's hair and fell asleep just as quickly as Jou did.

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Kaiba awake again to feel something hot beside him. He curled up more, sighing in relief that there was finally something that he could warm his cold body against. The form shifted, drawing Kaiba's eyes opened. He sat up quickly, seeing Jou's body covered in sweat. Jou was breathing heavily and rapidly. Kaiba placed his hand up on Jou's forehead. "Katsuya?" he called, cursing under his breath when the blond didn't respond. Kaiba moved his sore body off the bed and stumbled over to the door. He tried to open it, but it was locked. Pounding his fists on the door, Kaiba shouted through it with all the anger he built up, "You fucking shitheads! Katsuya needs a doctor right now. Get your asses up here!" Kaiba continued to pound and shout profanities until Jou shifted and mumbled his name.

Kaiba ran to the side of the bed and knelt beside Jou. He grasped his sweaty hand. "Katsuya?"

"So hot," Jou mumbled.

"I know. You need to hang in there." The burnet glanced at the chair Jou was forced to sit in. He cursed under his breath for not thinking about how dirty that was. Kaiba reached for a piece of his shirt that lied at the foot of the bed. He gently wiped the sweat from Jou's forehead. Jou continued to whisper Kaiba's name. The burnet leaned up and pressed his lips to Jou's forehead. "Fight for me. Don't give up."

The door suddenly slammed open, drawing Kaiba's gaze to it. He half expected to see an angry expression from Jou's father, but to his relief he was staring at the shades of his personal guard. "Roland," he sighed with relief. "Call an ambulance. Hurry!"

Roland had the cellphone to his ear as he walked over to Jou. "What's wrong with him?"

"I think he has an infection."

"Where?"

"Inside," Kaiba mumbled unable to form the words he really wanted to say.

Roland took his long jacket off and placed it over Jou. "We need to get you something to cover yourself."

Kaiba shivered. "He comes first. Katsuya is worst than I am."

Roland walked over and wrapped his arms around Kaiba. Suddenly the CEO felt ten years old again. He pounded his fists into Roland's chest. "I can't lose him! What are you waiting for? I said we need to get him to the hospital."

"Seto," Roland whispered. "You're not losing anyone." Roland managed to get Kaiba calmed down just as a group of men dressed in black walked into the room. They were followed by two paramedics. The two men worked quickly on Jou before lifting him up and placing him on the gurney. Roland took his jacket back after they covered Jou with a sheet. He placed it around Kaiba and helped his boss stand.

"Do we need to come back for him?" one of the paramedics asked.

"No. Between all of us. I think we can manage to get him to the hospital. As soon as you have him loaded leave immediately."

"Understood."

Roland turned to the men standing in the room. "Two of you go with Mr. Jounouchi. Don't let any press see him being loaded in or out of the ambulance. Protect him like you would Kaiba-sama."

"Right," two of the men said, running after the fast moving paramedics.

Kaiba pulled the jacket tighter around himself. He walked on shaky feet out of the room, not concerned about what happened to his captors or how his guards found them. The only thing on Kaiba's mind was getting Jou to the hospital. Roland walked carefully beside him, not touching him after the initial hug. It was unclear how unstable his boss was, and he didn't want to cause him anymore harm. When they approached the black SUV, Roland opened the door and held out his hand to help Kaiba into the backseat.

Kaiba nodded and grasped the older man's hand before climbing up into the high seat. Roland shut the door and moved around to sit in the back with Kaiba while the remaining two security men climbed into the front. "Are you seriously hurt, Kaiba-sama?" The burnet shook his head. Roland moved closer to Kaiba in order to whisper his next question. "Do you want me to remain in the room while the doctors exam you?" Kaiba shook his head.

"Outside."

Roland gave him a gentle smile. "Understood." The rest of the ride to the hospital was quiet. They arrived a few minutes after the ambulance. Jou was already in his own room being exam and treated. Roland remained where he was told outside of each room they moved Kaiba to while the two security men that arrived with Jou remained with him. Roland could see the press swarming in the emergency room's waiting area. The hospital guards attempted to kick them out, but they were having trouble.

He sighed and knocked twice on the door before entering. Kaiba glanced up at him, looking small and vulnerable in the white bed wearing only scrubs the doctor gave him. "Hospital security is having trouble with the press. Do you wish for me to call ours to assist them?"

"Anything to keep Katsuya safe and out of the public eye."

"As well as you?"

"I don't care about myself. Katsuya was hurt more than me."

"Seto," Roland whispered, standing next to Kaiba. "It's been awhile since I seen this behavior in you. You didn't deserve this abuse just like you didn't deserve to be Gozaburo's punching bag." Roland placed his hand over Kaiba's. "From what I saw of both of you, you share the same amount of pain. I'll call more security. When I'm done, do you want me to come back in here?" Kaiba nodded slowly. "It shouldn't be too much longer until you and Mr. Jounouchi can rest peacefully in the same room."

"You've arranged that already."

"Of course, Kaiba-sama."

Kaiba smiled. "Thank you, old friend." Roland nodded and walked out of the room to make the phone calls necessary for both of their protection. Kaiba leaned his head back into the pillow. The pain medication they gave him was already taking affect. He didn't feel sore anymore. He closed his eyes and listened to the quiet beeping of his heart monitor. He hoped that they got Jou to the hospital fast enough. Roland returned and sat on the chair beside Kaiba. He didn't notice that Kaiba was falling asleep until the burnet's breathing even out. He smiled softly and wished him pleasant dreams.

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The next few chapters will be tying everything together and their recovery. I should have the next one up tomorrow morning sometime. Thank you all for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you dragonlady222, RainingHearts4Ever, and FantasyWriter93 for your wonderful reviews. Today is the last day before I got back to work. I should be able to get another two chapters out today but after that the updates will be a little slower. I'm sure there's pure chaos for when I return.

Warnings:

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Chapter Thirteen

Kaiba awoke to the sterile smell and the uncomfortable bed. He sighed, knowing that they must have moved him to a room while he slept. He didn't know why he didn't wake, but it mattered not. He turned his head towards the right and squinted his eyes at the direct sunlight coming from the large window. He smiled softly seeing Jou in the bed by the window. Several balloons and flowers lined the table beside him. Kaiba groaned and shifted. His lower back felt like it weighed like a ton of bricks, and he had trouble moving it. He pulled the tubes that were attached to his arm out. Boosting himself up in the bed caused him to hiss more. He remembered the lacerations on his back as they instantly started to throb. Determined to stand up, Kaiba continued to push his sore body.

Finally his bare feet met with the cold floor. He shivered and wobbled over to Jou. Running his fingers through his blond hair, Kaiba noticed the bruising from the fights they had. He lifted the collar of Jou's shirt to look at the gunshot wound. Kaiba sighed in relief, pleased to see that the bandaged was clean. The wound must have stopped bleeding. He ran his fingers down Jou's arm and gently held his hand. Jou's other was wrapped in a brace. "His father must have sprained it," Kaiba thought. He stared out the morning sunlight, wondering how long he was asleep. A figure moved into the room and cleared his throat. Kaiba jumped and turned around to spot Roland.

He hissed and leaned against Jou's bed. The pain in his back caused him to readjust his position. "Don't scare me like that."

"My apologizes, Kaiba-sama. You should not be out of bed."

Kaiba rolled his eyes and very slowly and carefully sat back down on the bed. "What day is it?"

"Tuesday. Three days after you arrived in the hospital. You've been in and out of consciousness the entire time."

"Where is Mokuba?"

"Still at the safe house. He is getting antsy."

"You can escort him here, but you do it personally."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Roland bowed and started to leave.

"Wait. How did you find us?"

"A witness spotted a blond man fitting Mr. Jounouchi's father's description shoving you into the back of a van. The witness said that Mr. Jounouchi was putting up a fight. We watched the emergency rooms for anyone coming in with broken bones that fit the other descriptions. Finally we got a lead and followed the two men back to that house. I'm sorry we didn't make it in time."" Roland turned completely towards Kaiba. "It was my horrible decision to wait until we had enough security. I didn't want to risk losing you."

Kaiba looked him directly in the eye and smiled. "Things could have been worse if you failed at rescuing us. I don't blame you for any of this. It was my fault for underestimating what his father could do." Roland frowned, still not convinced that he shouldn't be forgiven so easily. "What happened to those men?"

"We have them secured. I didn't want to assume that you wanted them dead, or if you wanted me to hand them over the police."

"Keep them. As much as I believe in justice, I know that they won't get longer than a few years in jail." Kaiba glanced over at Jou. "He deserves to feel safe."

"Understood."

"Katsuya will make the decision about his father. What about the man they sold me to?"

"We're close to getting that information out of them, but his father is being stubborn."

"I want to know who he is before you do anything. Maybe I can make him suffer worst than death. We also need to figure out how his father got all those resources. There's so much I don't know, and I need to know everything in order to protect Katsuya. Roland, keep most of what happened away from my brother. I will tell him when the time is most appropriate."

"Understood, Kaiba-sama." Roland waited for a few minutes, but Kaiba never said anything else. The older man took that as he was finished and left the room. He may not agree with Kaiba about not telling his only family what happened, but he was far from fighting him on that issue. Kaiba remained where he sat for a few minutes, making sure that Roland wasn't going to come back in before he moved back to stand next to Jou's bed. He wondered how much damage was done physically to Jou, but he feared the emotional more. He couldn't image going through what Jou went through. He only had one man at a time.

Kaiba gasped and placed his hand over his lips. All the images started to return. He stumbled backwards, hissing as his lower back hit the bed. Tears fell down his cheeks. Memory after memory bombarded his senses. He turned and ran into the bathroom, dry heaving into the toilet. He sat down fully on the floor and slammed his head into the sink behind him. Pulling his legs into his chest, he ignored the pain as he cried into his legs.

Kaiba jumped and slammed his back into the nearby wall when someone suddenly touching his shoulder. He winced and tried calming his heart rate upon seeing Jou's honey eyes. He was extremely shocked that Jou was awake. Could he have been awake and pretending to be asleep the whole time? Sliding back down to the floor, he watched as Jou very carefully sat down in front of him. Jou wordlessly pulled Kaiba into his arms. The two stayed in each other's arms, crying through their pain and sorrow. Neither one of them noticed Mokuba walking into the bathroom, nor Roland moving him out of the room. "Katsuya," Kaiba whispered.

"Don't say it," Jou spoke softly. He knew exactly what Kaiba wanted to say and didn't want to hear it. There was nothing Kaiba could have done to prevent what happened. He pulled Kaiba into his arms and let the man lean against his chest. His body felt sore, and he winced when he moved to a more comfortable position. The blond glanced at the door, noticing for the first time that someone shut it. He licked his dry lips. "How are you feeling?"

When Kaiba didn't answer him, Jou sighed and continued. "I'm still sore. My shoulder burns my wrists hurts but I can move it, I'm a bit lightheaded, and I'm nauseous."

"My back stings every time I move, and my hips feel like I was doing a thousand crunches," Kaiba answered, not showing any signs of saying anything else.

"I think your brother is here. I didn't shut the door on the way in," Jou said trying to think of more to say.

Kaiba glanced up at the door. "I don't want him to know."

"Why not?"

"He shouldn't know how weak his older brother is."

"First off, you're not weak. Second off, he needs to know."

"No he doesn't."

"Look. I know you don't want to tell him about the details, but he needs to know what to expect. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep control of my emotions. Watching you break down is very difficult and…" Jou bit his lip. Kaiba turned into his lap and wrapped his arms around the blond. He felt guilty for thinking of himself while Jou was suffering. "He's going to need to know what to do when to do it. I don't want him suffering like we are. Even though you may think it would be less suffering for him if he didn't know, but it would hurt him more not knowing what to do if either one of us slips." A few tears slip down Jou's cheeks and splashed with Kaiba's shoulder.

"Alright," Kaiba whispered. "I don't know how I'm going to be able to tell him."

"I'll help you through it."

"Thank you." Kaiba shifted and reached up to the sink. Bracing himself firmly on the rim, he pulled himself onto his feet. He reached down and helped Jou onto his feet. Kaiba was about to move towards the door when he spotted himself in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was paler than normal. The color of his eyes shocked himself the most. He used to look in the mirror and saw bright blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires. Now they looked deader and deep blue. He breathed heavily and kept himself firmly attached to the sink.

"Seto?" Jou turned back towards Kaiba when he started to hear fast, heavy breathing. Jou slammed the door open and looked over at Mokuba who sat on his bed. "Push that button to call a nurse right away!" Mokuba reacted quickly, not asking any questions. Jou moved quickly over towards Kaiba's trembling form. "Seto, you need to calm down and breathe slowly." He remembered feeling the same thing when he first looked at himself in the mirror. That was the exact reason he didn't look at the mirror when he walked in.

A young female came running in the room. "What's wrong?"

"He's hyperventilating."

"Mr. Kaiba, can you walk back to your bed?"

Kaiba shook his head rapidly, clinging to the edge of the sink with hands tightly enough to cause his knuckles to turn white. "I'll help him," Jou answered, gripping Kaiba's bent arm in one hand and placed his hand on his lower back.

With much struggle and Kaiba nearly falling several times, Jou finally got him to lie down on the bed. Kaiba licked his dry lips and shivered in the cold air. The nurse pulled the sheet up and sat on the edge of the bed. She gripped his hand and stared directly into his eyes. "I need you to do what I say. Pretend like you are whistling and take a deep breath in. Count to five and let it out slowly. Ready? Deep breath in. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Let it out slowly. Deep breath in." The nurse continued the breathing exercise while Jou sat next to Mokuba and wrapped his arm around the younger man's shoulders. He could image how scared Mokuba must be feeling, especially not knowing what was happening to Kaiba.

After a few minutes, the nurse had Kaiba breathing normal again. Kaiba licked his dry lips and tried to calm the shivers still running through his body. She helped him lie back down and hocked the machines back into his IV. "I'll be right back with something to help your dehydration. Keep focusing on your breathing."

Kaiba nodded and watched her leave before turning back towards Jou and Mokuba. "I'm sorry, Mokie. I didn't mean to scare you."

Mokuba moved to Kaiba's bed and sat down. "It's alright, Seto. Can you tell me what happened?"

Kaiba glanced over at Jou before turning back towards Mokuba. "After the nurse returns and leaves. I don't want to be interrupted."

"Okay," Mokuba said softly. "Is there anything I can get you?" Kaiba shook his head. Mokuba glanced up at Jou. "How about you?"

"I'm okay, still a little tired." Jou shifted in the bed and lied back down on it. He was getting weaker, and the room was starting to swirl slightly. He didn't think about Kaiba having a panic attack. He should have made sure that Kaiba didn't look at himself in the mirror.

The nurse returned quickly and attached the large bag to the stand beside Kaiba and the plastic tube to Kaiba's IV. She walked over to Jou and glanced down at him. "Did you need anything, Mr. Jounouchi?" Jou shook his head and closed his eyes. "When you are in your bed, please put the heart monitor on. I'll be in an hour to administer both of you your medications."

Mokuba gripped Kaiba's hand and glanced up at his brother's face. He looked extremely tired and the younger Kaiba wondered if he should continue to push him. Kaiba closed his eyes, feeling instantly better as the liquid started to drip. "How much do you know?"

Not expecting Kaiba to talk with how tired he looked. "I know you were kidnapped by Jou's father and that our driver was killed in the process."

Kaiba frowned, remembering his driver and feeling guilty for not thinking about that man. He made a mental note to contact the family even though he was sure his staff already handled most of the compensation for the family. "I don't think they were ever planning on holding me for ransom." He bit his lip and cracked his eyes open to look at Mokuba. "They wanted me to be a whore."

Jou turned his head towards Kaiba to watch the CEO. It seemed like Kaiba wasn't having difficulty talking as if he had emotionally detached himself from the event. He turned on his side and watched Kaiba's expressions closely. He wasn't an expert on human emotions, nor should he attempt to help with his own unstable emotions. Something about helping Kaiba, made him feel slightly better. He relied on his new lover's strength to help him through everything, and he wondered if Kaiba felt the same. He unclipped the heart monitor and walked over to Kaiba's bed. Sitting down at the bottom, he placed his hand on Kaiba's knee. The CEO glanced at Jou and gave him a small smile before continuing. Mokuba politely waited for his brother to continue.

"We fought the first time they came for us, but when I thought they broke Jou's wrist, I gave up and went peacefully with them. They took nude pictures of me, and they forced me to…oh gods I can't. You're still my baby brother." Kaiba couldn't finish his story.

"I'm not a child anymore, Seto. Isn't it about time you let me help and support you just like you did for me all those years? Take your time telling me, but please don't use the excuse that I'm too young to stop yourself."

Jou used his fingers to draw random circles into Kaiba's lower leg and then moved down to massage his feet. Kaiba felt a little relax and was grateful for Jou's comfort. "They forced me to give them oral sex." The CEO watched his brother's face carefully. The only thing that flashed across the raven haired man's face was sadness. Mokuba squeezed Kaiba's hand, encouraging him to continue. "They returned me to the room with Katsuya. I don't know how long we were down there before they came back. They sold me to another man."

Kaiba glanced down at Jou and smiled. "Katsuya fought like a knight, but he was shot and knocked unconscious. They decided to punish us for fighting. They forced Katsuya to watch the man raping me then forced me to watch four men raping Katsuya."

Tears rolled down Mokuba's cheeks. "I'm sorry, Seto. Whatever you need I will do for you."

"He didn't tell you one thing. He's trying to make my experience sound worse than his."

Mokuba turned to Jou. "What?"

"That man raped and whipped him for five hours straight. I only saw the last half hour of it. He never showed his pain until we made a silent agreement that it was okay to scream and cry."

Kaiba glared at him. "You were forced to sit on a chair with a dildo inside of you while the man took me. Then, you had two men shoving their penises inside of you at the same time. How could you say that you didn't have it worse?"

"What about my father? I saw him raping you while those men were raping me. I only had to endure it once. How many times did that first man take you before my father did?"

"I don't know."

Mokuba glanced between the two of them before reaching up and placing a hand over Kaiba's mouth and staring at Jou. "Both of you please stop for a second. Don't argue over who had it worse. In my opinion you both endure the same amount of pain just in a different way." Mokuba sat back up. "Are you both still in pain?"

"It's just aches now, Mokie," Kaiba answered quickly.

"I agree. Tired as well."

The same nurse walked in a few seconds later. "It's time for your medications. Now these may make you drowsy."

"What are they?"

The nurse pulled in a computer on stand and walked over to Kaiba. "For Mr. Kaiba, I have some pain relievers. We won't have to change your bandages on your back until tomorrow morning. The same for you, Mr. Jounouchi. Your infection has healed surprisingly quickly so we stopped giving you the antibacterial medication this morning."

Jou moved back over to his bed while the nurse injected Kaiba. The CEO placed his head back against the pillow and smiled at Mokuba. He patted his knee before closing his eyes. He didn't fall asleep right away, but he felt a little more relaxed, knowing that Mokuba wasn't disgusted after finding out what happened to him.

After injecting Jou with his medication, the nurse placed her hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "They'll probably fall back to sleep. If you need anything, don't be afraid to call." Mokuba nodded and continued to hold Kaiba's hand. He felt the burnet squeezing his hand every few seconds until it finally relaxed in his grasp. Knowing that Kaiba finally fell asleep, Mokuba moved over to check on Jou. Once satisfied that they were both sleeping peacefully, Mokuba moved a chair in between the both of them and curled up. He didn't sleep too well the night before, too worried about both of his brothers. He was grateful that he finally got to see them. He rested his chin on the back of the chair and closed his eyes. "A few hours of sleep couldn't hurt," he thought, feeling himself drift off to sleep.

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The next chapter should be out later on tonight. It's a little bit shorter but not by much. Thank you all for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you dragonlady222, FantasyWriter93, and RainingHearts4Ever for your kind reviews. I'm sorry but I'll only be able to upload just this chapter before I go back to work. I got a little distracted.

Warnings: None

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Chapter Fourteen

Both Jou and Kaiba spent several days in the hospital. Mokuba never left their side and often helped when one of them would have their breakdowns or mental strains. Kaiba would fight when the nurse wanted to change his bandages. He didn't like anyone besides Mokuba and Jou touching him. The first time they changed them; Kaiba kicked the nurse and ran into the bathroom where he had another panic attack. It took both Jou and Mokuba to talk Kaiba out of the bathroom and calm him down. The doctor suggested sedating Kaiba when it was time to change the bandages, but Mokuba refused to let them. He said it could hurt the burnet more mentally knowing what happened while he was sedated. The second time the nurse came to change the bandages; Kaiba had less of a reaction. His heart rate still increased, but he didn't run and hide or have a panic attack.

Jou, on the other hand, allowed the nurse to change his bandages without complaint. He could tell that Kaiba was amazed at his reactions, but he told the CEO that it didn't make him stronger. The only problem Jou had was when the doctor came to exam his rectum. The doctor closed the curtain around his bed and talked to Jou about ever step, but that wasn't enough. The blond would squirm away from the touch and whimper. The doctor was having a difficult time examining him. Kaiba moved the curtain to the side and walked over to Jou after hearing the doctor telling him repeatedly not to move. Jou had tears in his eyes, and he gripped both sides of the bed tightly. Kaiba gently coax Jou's hand away from the mattress and into his, telling the blond to squeeze as hard as he liked. He knelt down beside the bed and ran his fingers through Jou's hair, speaking words of comfort. Jou cried for hours after the doctor was finished. Each time the doctor examined Jou, Kaiba did the same thing. Slowly it became easier for Jou, but he still reacted badly.

Yugi and Atemu would visit as often as they could. It was the morning before Kaiba and Jou were scheduled to be released when they brought Kaiba's famous briefcase of duel cards. Kaiba opened up the case and took out his three Blue Eyes. Something about having them closed brought a smile to his face. "Thank you," he said softly.

Jou frowned for a moment, thinking about his deck that he sold months ago. He knew that he would never see Red Eyes again. The man he sold it to warned him that he would never give it back, but at least he trusted the man to treat Red Eyes with respect. Jou didn't realize that he was ignoring everyone in the room until he felt Yugi sit down on his bed and say his name. "I know we haven't been here to see both of you a lot nor even while you were recovery the first time at Kaiba's mansion, but Atemu and I had a project we wanted to finish."

Atemu sat on the other side of Jou's bed, holding onto a small, tan box. "It took us forever to remember all the cards in your deck, but we managed to find most of them. Even though they were spread all over the world, I managed to track your aura around them. They are still very loyal to you and understand why you had to sell them. Every person that had your cards treated them with respect and allowed us to bring them back to you. None of them wanted anything in return, but they hoped that you will get back on your feet again."

Jou took the box and opened it. He ran his fingers lovingly over each card. Even though he might not be the smartest man in the world, he remembered each card he had. Yugi and Atemu managed to get all but one card. He frowned. Red Eyes was still missing. Kaiba noticed the look on Jou's face and glanced over at Mokuba who walked over to Jou earlier. Kaiba placed his Blue Eyes back into the briefcase and moved it off his lap. He walked over to Jou and sat down on the same side as Yugi. Jou carefully placed the cards back into the box and handed them over to Kaiba who glanced through them. To his horror, he realized he was correct. Red Eyes was missing.

Yugi frowned. "I'm sorry to upset you, but we do have what you are looking for. The guy that you sold your deck resold every card except for Red Eyes. We went for Red Eyes first, but he told me that he wasn't giving you the card back until you had every card in your deck back." Yugi pulled out his own deck and took the card at the very top. "Judging by your reaction, I believe we got ever card but this one." He handed Red Eyes to Jou who took it with shaky hands. "The man had a message for you. He said that he never used it in battle. The card remained locked in a safe place after he used it once in one of Kaiba's duel disks. The image that appeared was not the beauty and strength he knew the Red Eyes to be. He said Red Eyes lied on the ground with his head buried into his body. He knew at that time that no one would be able to control the Red Eyes besides you. He wanted you to promise one thing and that would be his payment."

Jou caressed the Red Eyes and glanced up at Yugi. "What did he want?"

Atemu cleared his throat. "He wants to see the Red Eyes at full strength again. Tomorrow when you two are released we are to have a live broadcast duel. Kaiba and you verse Yugi and me. I believe you can arrange it, Kaiba." Atemu glanced up at the CEO.

Kaiba thought for a few minutes before shaking his head. "It's too soon."

Mokuba glanced over at his brother. He knew that to be a lie. Kaiba could arrange a televised duel in less than one hour. He was about to say something when Jou answered, "I accept your challenge, and Seto, I suggest you get on that fancy phone of yours and talk to your friends in high places. This would be a duel to remember."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Positive. You two," he said, pointing to Yugi and Atemu. "Get out of here so we can plan our strategy." Yugi smiled and patted Jou's leg before getting up with his lover. "Oh and thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Atemu wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulders and smiled. "It's a small amount of payback for all the help you gave me, but don't think we're going easy on you."

Jou laughed and gave them thumbs up. "We won't go easy on you either."

Atemu smiled and walked out of the hospital room. Yugi gripped his hand tightly. "Are you sure we shouldn't tell him who had his cards?"

"Yes. It's hard to believe that we met so many people throughout our adventures and that each one of them had one or two of Jou's cards. It was as if Jou's cards were calling those people. Like they knew they would remain safe in their hands. I hope that they will be at the top of their game."

Atemu placed his hand in Yugi's and walked out of the hospital. "I know they will."

Kaiba watched the two leave before glancing back at Jou. "I didn't think you would want to be out in the public eye so soon after this happened."

Jou smiled softly down at the Red Eyes he held in his hand. "I need to prove to my cards that I am the same person I was."

Kaiba watched the fire burn back into Jou's eyes. It was something that was missing when he first saw Jou again in that restaurant. "Okay. Let me make some phone calls and then we can strategize." He smiled at Mokuba still sitting beside Jou. "I need you to prepare one of the stadiums in Kaibaland. Take Roland with you. I'll make the necessary calls."

Mokuba jumped with excitement. "This is going to be the best duel every!"

Kaiba laughed as he heard Mokuba saying something to Roland before hearing his rapid footfalls down the hallway. Kaiba picked his briefcase up and placed it on Jou's lap. "You can pick out any cards in there to help strengthen your deck. I'll make the phone calls and pick up some lunch from the cafeteria. One of the guards will remain here. I'll be back in a half hour."

Jou smiled and waited until Kaiba was out of the room before placing the briefcase back on his bed. "As if I would use new cards," Jou chuckled. He spread the cards out on the bed. Even though they were still in the hospital, Jou was feeling better than he ever felt. The aches and pains eased. He placed the Red Eyes down with the others and stood up tall. "I know Seto would think I was crazy talking to you so I had to wait until he left." He knelt down on one knee beside the bed. "I need to ask you for forgiveness. I know you must have felt lonely without each other and me. There is nothing I could say to explain my actions, but I vow to treat you all with the most respect from this time on." He reached down and brushed his fingers over a few of the cards and smiled. They felt warm to him. "Thank you," he whispered, gathering them all up and placing them back into the box that Yugi gave him. He held the Red Eyes in his hand for a few minutes. "We'll show them your strength and beauty."

Kaiba returned a few minutes later with lunch and a smiling face. "We'll have the seats packed. Apparently word has gotten out that we are having this tomorrow and the tickets for the stadium have been sold out. I wonder who has been spreading that little information before I called the press. On top of a full stadium people have already started buying tickets for Kaibaland. Mokuba is going to set the screens to play the duel all around the park so that the people who couldn't get into the stadium can still watch. After lunch we'll come up with the perfect plan to take down the Kings of Games."

Jou chuckled and moved over to Kaiba's bed. He picked up the first container and started to eat the ham and cheese sandwich. The sparkle in Kaiba's eyes returned as he opened his briefcase. He knew what type of cards Jou had in his deck and started selecting ones that would benefit from Jou's magic and trap cards on top of selecting his own magic and trap cards that would support Jou's monsters. He chewed on his own turkey sandwich. Jou watched Kaiba placing a few cards on the bed. He picked a few up and glanced at them. He figured Kaiba would have nearly ever card ever made, but he didn't expect to find numerous cards that supported his dragons and especially the Flame Swordsman. It was as if Kaiba expected to team up with the blond sometime.

They stayed awake for hours, choosing the cards carefully. They knew Yugi and Atemu had a deck of darkness and light creatures combined. Once satisfied, the two stared at their stack of cards in front of them. Jou placed his deck back in the box and set it on the table near the flowers that were starting to die. Kaiba placed his deck back into his briefcase and settled himself down in the bed. Mokuba walked back into the room, holding two bags in his hand. "I brought you two clothes so we can head right over to Kaibaland. Everything is set up and ready."

Kaiba ruffled his brother's hair. "Good job."

Mokuba walked over to the bed that they had delivered into the room about a week ago. He smiled and settled himself into it. He couldn't wait until tomorrow. The press was going through the roof. The top four duelists would be dueling in a pair duel. The most shocking of it all was that Kaiba and Jou are teaming up. Everyone knew them as the two that constantly fought and would never get alone. But, things have changed especially with the announcement of their relationship. Now, everyone was probably wondering how those two would duel now, especially against the Kings of Games. He couldn't wait to see it himself. Tomorrow will be a day to remember.

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Okay it's back to work tomorrow so the next chapter won't be out until tomorrow night. Hopefully work won't keep me too long and I can get it out early in the evening. Thank you for reading. Please review.

Angel Dove


	15. Chapter 15

Thank you FantasyWriter93 and dragonlady222 for your reviews.

So I had my vacation and the first day I'm back at work I get a cold. What type of sense does that make? So if there are a lot of typos in this chapter I'm sorry. I have a fuzzy head but I wanted to upload this first LOL. I'm such a geek.

Warnings: I'm not very good at writing duels nor am I that good at thinking like four different people in a duel. I had to do a lot of research for this chapter to find out which cards they all had. I could duel with my own deck which is like a combination of Kaiba's and Atemu's deck, but it was really difficult dueling like them.

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Chapter Fifteen

The next morning Jou sat on the edge of his bed with butterflies in his stomach. He felt more nervous than he ever felt before. He'd duel against both Yugi and Atemu in the past but one on one. He kept remembering their duel in Duelist Kingdom and how emotional that was, but this time it was different. This time there was neither prize money that he desperately needed for his sister's operation nor Grandpa's soul that needed saving. In fact, there was nothing that required them to win the match. This was just going to be an honorable match between friends. Mokuba had left earlier that day to finish the preparations for the duel. Jou glanced up at Kaiba who stood by the window looking out. The blond couldn't help but feel jealous at how calm Kaiba appeared.

He found himself staring at the burnet. The sunlight washed over him. Jou blushed and averted his eyes. He couldn't believe the feelings he was having. He had watch Kaiba dressing that morning. Kaiba had his back to him the entire time, but Jou could see the damage that man did to his back. Even though they were no longer angry red, he could still see each place the whip struck Kaiba's skin. He felt guilty for staring at Kaiba and finally looked somewhere else just as Kaiba reached for the belts to his outfit. Jou didn't think Kaiba would put the buckles on his outfit like he wore in Battle City, but he did. Now he stood in that all black outfit by the window. His white trench coat lied over the bed, waiting for them to leave.

Kaiba was a picture of perfection and here Jou sat in the clothes that Kaiba bought for him after it was established that they wouldn't be returning to his apartment. He was dressed in solid black as well except he didn't have a jacket to go over it. Jou finally moved and walked into the bathroom. He glanced at himself in the mirror. His blond hair shined more with the black he wore, but he still looked like a street dog. He could never be anything more than that. These feelings for Kaiba were becoming unbearable to not act upon. He couldn't be sure what Kaiba was feeling. Sometimes he would do things that seemed like he cared like a lover, but they could be interpreted as a strong bond of friendship. Besides their first kiss and that love confession, Kaiba hadn't made any sort of moves. Jou wasn't any better. Jou sighed and played with his hair slightly. Even if Kaiba returned his feelings, society would never accept someone like him to be the Great Seto Kaiba's lover.

Kaiba walked behind Jou, sliding his arms over his shoulder and wrapping them around his waist. He pulled the blond into his chest and rested his chin on Jou's head. Jou found himself being lost in the warm heat radiating off Kaiba's body. It was a comfort of its own. Kaiba stared at Jou's eyes through the mirror. "Don't mess with your looks. It doesn't matter what you look like, just what's inside of here." Kaiba placed his hand over Jou's heart.

Shivers ran down Jou's spine. To Jou it sounded like a love confession. A confession that was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Is that yours?"

Kaiba shook his head. "It sounds like your ring tone."

Confused about who would be calling him at this time, Jou walked over to the phone and answered it. All Kaiba could hear was a muffled voice of someone yelling and Jou's end. "It's not…But…No, I understand. How much?" Jou sighed. "Okay. I know. Okay." Jou hung the phone up and placed his hands in between his knees. Kaiba was about to say something when Jou's phone rang again. Jou didn't even have a chance to say anything when an angry male voice was shouting at him. This time Jou didn't even bother to explain. He just listened to what the man had to say before answering with a simple, "Okay." Jou's phone rang a total of six times. Each time it rang, Jou fought less and less.

After the last call, Jou threw his phone at the wall, watching it shatter. "What's wrong?"

"I was fired from all my jobs and my teacher wants the last payment for this semester plus the beginning payment for next semester that she automatically signed me up for."

"Did they give you a reason?"

Jou slouched. "My teacher was giving me a chance since you called her and told her that I saved you, but she said that if I had time to plan a duel for the whole world to see then I should have been in school. She wouldn't even let me explain what happened in the past couple of weeks even though I'm sure it was all over the news. My jobs followed the same way with the same excuses. It doesn't matter anymore. I knew this would happen eventually."

Kaiba sat down on the edge of his bed. Their knees touched. The burnet reached out his hands and grasped Jou's hands. "I will help you. Do you want to cancel the duel?"

Jou shook his head. "If everyone thinks I'm a slacker than there is no difference if I go with it or not."

The CEO sighed and moved over to sit next to Jou. "You are far beyond a slacker. You were excited about this whole thing."

"Yesterday I still had my five part time jobs and had a chance of graduating this semester."

"We'll figure this out. One step at a time. Let's honor that promise you made. Who did you sell that deck to anyway?"

Jou frowned and shifted away from Kaiba. He glanced up as the doctor entered the room, holding two clipboards. Kaiba dropped his question until he could ask Jou at a different time. Without listening to anything the doctor was saying, Jou signed the papers and handed them back to the doctor. He was lost in his own thoughts, and his body was moving on autopilot. Kaiba grabbed his jacket and briefcase, glancing up at the clock. They had an hour before their scheduled duel with Atemu and Yugi.

Jou followed close behind Kaiba, keeping the box close to his chest. He felt horrible and wondered if the cards knew that. The entire ride to Kaibaland, neither one spoke to each other. Kaiba was worried about Jou and still wanted to get Jou to cancel the event, even though it meant bad press and angry people for Kaiba Corp. He left the blond in the back waiting room while he went out for the speech Mokuba had prepared for him. Of course there was no chance he could just show up and duel. He had to speak to the public first.

The television in the back played the whole speech, but Jou didn't watch it. He placed his deck down on the long wooden table. He picked Red Eyes out and held it in his arms. "I am unworthy of your power and devotion, but it would ruin Seto if he were to cancel this whole thing. I cannot do that to him." Jou reached for the rest of his cards and fanned them out across the table. "I ask for your help. Help me to at least make it through this. I promise to become a better person later, but I need to help Seto. Even though he doesn't show it, he's excited about having another chance at dueling Yugi and Atemu. This would be the first time since they separated their bodies. I haven't known the real him for long, but I could tell how much he dreamed of something like this. I'm honored that he accepted me as his partner and hope that I don't disappoint him." Jou smiled slightly. "This time I won't have Yugi supporting my mistakes with his cards. Kaiba's powerful deck would need my tricks and luck to stand a chance against Atemu's god cards and Yugi's magic." Jou placed Red Eyes down with the others and glanced at the screen. It was almost time for his entrance. Kaiba planned that each duelist would have their own entrance. Kaiba's came first followed by him and then Yugi and Atemu.

Jou blinked back a tear and placed his famous smile on his face. He placed his deck in the holder he had attached to his belt and walked towards the curtains that hid him. Once his name was announced he ran out onto the stage with his arms in the air. He smiled brightly at the large applause he received, waving to all his fans. Making his way to the other corner, he gave Kaiba a nod before entering into the metal dragon. He placed his deck on the top corner and registered himself as duelist two teaming with duelist one.

Yugi bit his lower lip and watched the ever lovable Jou walking across the stage. Roland was announcing the small biography about Jou. "Something is wrong." Atemu nodded. "He seemed excited yesterday. Could it be he's nervous?"

"No, Aibou. He'd never be nervous dueling us. Something must have happened between the time we left him and now. Kaiba seems to be concerned as well. His eyes are watching Jou carefully."

"This won't go well if his heart isn't in it."

"We have no choice. He's prepared to do this at any cost. We promised we wouldn't go easy on him."

Yugi nodded as Roland announced Atemu's name first. The smaller of the two knew that he'd be last considering that he is the real King of Games. He hated that title, but according to all his friends and Kaiba, Atemu lost the title in the final duel after Yugi defeated him. Yugi joined his partner, still watching Jou carefully. The clown was in complete control and Jou taunted him like he would any other opponent. He glanced at Atemu who nodded back and then turned to Kaiba. Kaiba frowned back at Yugi before looking over at the blond. It had been awhile since any of them saw Jou hiding behind his mask.

After the decks were exchanged and shuffled, it was Kaiba's turn first since they were the challenging the title. Kaiba placed two cards faced down and placed a monster in defensive mode. Jou stared at his hand for a few moments before placing one monster in defensive mood and one card faced down. Atemu already had one of his god cards in his hand and placed Queen's Knight in attack mode before placing two cards faced down. He didn't attack but chose to end his turn there. Yugi, on the other hand, placed three cards faced down and summoned his Celtic Guardian. He attacked Jou's monster card, sending Armored Lizard to the graveyard.

Kaiba flipped his Cost Down card over and sacrificed his Battle Ox in order to summon the first Blue Eyes to the field. Kaiba attacked Atemu's Queen's Knight, but the former pharaoh triggered his Mirror Force card. Kaiba smirked and triggered his Attack Guidance Armor and attached it to Yugi's Celtic Guardian, destroying it.

The duel continued its back and forth action with the crowd cheering in the background until the very end where Kaiba had his three Blue Eyes summoned, Jou had Red Eyes and Thousand Dragon, Atemu summoned Slifer the Sky Dragon but only had two cards in hand, and Yugi had Gaia the Dragon Champion. Jou's life points were one hit away from being defeated while everyone else was around a thousand life points.

It was Kaiba's turn first; he used his Fusion card to summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. He placed one card faced down and glanced over at Jou. He didn't know how much longer Jou can survive. Jou smirked at the card he drew and placed it on the field, activating his Graverobber to steal Summon Skull from Yugi's graveyard. Kaiba flipped over Magical Trick Mirror in order to allow Jou to fuse the Summon Skull and Red Eyes together summoning Red Eyes Skull Dragon. Atemu triggered Slifer's special ability, but the dragon didn't move. Kaiba flipped over his Lord of Dragons card that he placed in defense mode, protecting both of their fused dragons.

Even in the end, Kaiba couldn't defeat Atemu and his god cards. Jou and Yugi defeated each other leaving Kaiba and Atemu left in the game, but it wasn't enough. The game ended with an uproar of all of Yugi and Atemu's fans. Jou nodded and smiled to his friends and walked off the platform to allow them their glory. Atemu watch Jou disappear quickly through the curtain that led to the waiting room. He moved to follow, but Kaiba shook his head and went after Jou himself.

Jou leaned against one of the walls with his deck on the table. His body trembled as Kaiba pulled him into his chest. "You did well," Kaiba whispered. "You brought life back towards your cards. They worked perfectly for you."

"No they didn't."

"What?"

"I asked them to help you. I knew that if you cancelled this it could ruin you more than you let on."

"My company would have recovered." Kaiba moved slightly away from Jou and gave him a gentle kiss. They hadn't been close since that time in the hospital when they were caught kissing. Luckily none of the press said anything about it during the entire duel. It was as if there wasn't a picture taken of them.

Jou didn't like the gentle, quick kiss. He leaned up and pulled Kaiba into a deeper kiss. The two drowned themselves in their passion that they never saw Yugi and Atemu entering the room. Atemu turned to make sure no one saw it while Yugi walked up to them. "What happened, Jou?" he asked as they separated from their embrace.

"This morning all my bosses and my teacher called me. I was fired from every job and I'm not graduating again."

Yugi wrapped his arms around the taller man. "I'm so sorry. If I hadn't suggested that we do this so soon, you could have warned them all first."

"It wouldn't have made a difference. The day after the night I stayed with Kaiba helping him through his cold was the last day I could miss from school. I knew I wasn't graduating the morning I woke up after my father and his friends raped me. Even after Seto called her to tell her that I was in the hospital, I knew there was a limit to her generosity. I hadn't been in good terms at any of my jobs either."

Atemu moved into the room more. "Perhaps we should move this someplace more private. The press is coming."

Kaiba walked towards Atemu. "I'll talk to them. You three get to the limo, and we'll go back to the mansion." Kaiba moved down the hallway to meet the swarm of people while Yugi grabbed Jou to lead him down the hallway.

Surprisingly, Mokuba had the limo parked right outside. The young man smiled and opened the door for them. He leaned in to look at them. "You can have anything you want. There's water and soda in the small refrigerator and snacks in the other cabinet. We'll go once Seto is here." Mokuba shut the door and awaited his older brother. He knew that they were going to need a quick get away, especially after Kaiba and Jou lost the duel. Everyone had high expectations for them and thought that there would be new Kings of Games by the end of the day, but it turned out that Yugi and Atemu were harder to defeat.

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Okay that's as close as I could get to writing a duel especially without using my own combination. It's like playing chess with yourself LOL. The next chapter will be uploaded around this time tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Please review.

Angel Dove


	16. Chapter 16

Thank you dragonlady222, FantasyWriter93, and lily272 for your kind reviews. I'm glad I didn't butcher the duel. This is where I start on the road to the end. The chapters are going to be slightly longer only because I have a lot to tie back together. There's some things revealed about Jou's father in this chapter. Hurrah! I've kept my secrets long enough.

Author Note: I re-uploaded this because I was playing dumb again. Thanks to RainingHearts4Ever for noticing my huge mistake. I greatly appreciated it.

Warnings: None

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Chapter Sixteen

Seto slid quickly into the limo followed by Mokuba. He pressed a button. "Home, please." The limo instantly began to move. Kaiba sighed and sat back against the seat. Jou chuckled, watching Kaiba. "What?"

"You always seem so calm. I've never seen you like this."

"You try being calm when they want to know everything about my new relationship with my once rival."

Everyone started laughing while Kaiba's face turned bright red, and he stared out the window. As far as Kaiba was concerned that topic was finished. He listened to everyone talking about random things from what strategy Jou would have in the future to how he was feeling and what they were eating for dinner. Kaiba kept a careful watch on Jou. The smile was still there. He wondered what it would take to bring the real Jou out.

Kaiba noticed the mansion coming into view. He uncrossed his legs and got out just as the door was opened. He saw flashes from the cameras and rolled his eyes. How most of them could beat him home was beyond him. The door opened, and it became an unspoken word that they were all going to the living room. Once everyone sat down, Atemu turned more serious towards Jou. "Why do you think you have to hide in front of us?"

Jou blinked a few times before frowning. "It's a habit. I don't even realize I'm doing it."

"Do you have any plans?"

Jou sighed. "Minako-sensei won't give me any breaks. I'll have to drain my savings in order to pay for this past semester, but I won't have enough money to start next semester. I'm thinking about just not going. Maybe I was never meant to graduate from high school. I wasn't smart enough to begin with."

"Is that so?" Kaiba snapped as he turned the fireplace on. Mokuba bit his lower lip knowing that tone in his brother's voice. Kaiba was obviously irritated about something. "From what I found you had straights A's this semester and the only thing that stopped yourself from graduating was the fact that you would disappear for a few days on hand. Sometimes you would call and other times you wouldn't. Tell me, Katsuya. Those times you couldn't call it, what did your father do to you?"

Jou turned his gaze away from Kaiba. Yugi growled and placed his hand on Jou's knee. "Don't shove that in his face."

"Why shouldn't I? He thinks he's lower than dirt, and he deserves to be shit on. The last time I checked, Jou was nobler than any of that. He fought for whatever his heart desired and refused to give up on anyone including me. The only thing preventing him from becoming the person I know he can be is his father."

"Is? He's still alive," Jou shouted angrily. "I thought your people would have killed him by now."

"I was waiting to talk to you about it."

Jou got up from his seat and angrily paced around the room. "What could the justice system do? Lock him away for a few years so he could get out and organize this again. Didn't you see how dangerous he could be when he's not killing his brain cells on alcohol? I can't believe you captured him alive. Where is he? Somewhere in this mansion?"

Kaiba was taken back by Jou's anger. He thought the blond would be grateful for given the chance to choose his father's fate. "I would never put him in the same building as us," Kaiba said softly. He was insulted that Jou would actually think something like that, but knew that Jou wouldn't normally say something like that. He wondered what his father was into to put so much fear in Jou.

"After high school and I didn't graduate he found someone that led to the underworld. He was tempted by all the money that man gave him. I could have tolerated his drunken abuse. He would miss most of my vital organs." The CEO couldn't believe what he was hearing. There was someone out there controlling and fueling Jou's father with the resources he needed. Kaiba let the blond continue to rant until finally Jou noticed what he was doing. The blond frowned. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. He walked over to Kaiba just as the CEO uncrossed his legs. Jou climbed into his lap and placed his head down on his shoulder, wrapping his arms around him. Kaiba wrapped his arms around Jou and soothingly stroked his back. The two had found their own ways of feeling comfort in each other. Jou would curl into Kaiba's warm embrace while Kaiba would put his head in Jou's lap.

Yugi and Atemu watched in awe at how close those two had become. It wasn't too long ago that they were fighting and would never be considered friends. Jou's whole body language changed instantly. He slowly calmed down with his shoulders slumping. Kaiba glanced over at the other two and slowly shook his head, not wanting them to question. Eventually Jou moved off Kaiba and sat on the arm of the chair. Even though he was out of Kaiba's lap, he still kept a firm hold on the CEO's hand. "I'm sorry, guys," he said softly. "Seto and I have this thing that calms us every time."

"It's understandable," Atemu said. "Do you wish to speak with Kaiba privately over this matter?" Even though Atemu could feel Yugi's craving to help he best friend, he knew that there were things that Jou and Kaiba shared together. He'd willingly let Jou decided which help he needed.

Jou glanced at Kaiba and then back at his two best friends. "I barely got to see both of you lately, and I haven't thanked you probably for getting my deck back."

"It's okay, Jou. You've already thanked us enough, and you already know that we'll be here when you need us," Yugi said softly, glancing over at Mokuba who oddly enough remained silent throughout the whole conversation. "Mokuba, do you want to come with us for awhile?"

Mokuba glanced back at Kaiba, knowing that the CEO was keeping a close eye on him. Kaiba sighed, "Keep Roland with you, but yes you can go with them."

Mokuba smiled brightly and ran over to them. He pulled Yugi to his feet. "I've been dying to see the new games you got in your shop." Yugi chuckled, letting the younger man pull him out of the room. Mokuba took a glance at his brothers and knew that they needed time to work some things out. He was shocked at hearing Jou's confession to the abuse falling so easily from his lips.

Atemu walked over to Jou and gently pulled him into his embrace. He placed his lips right by Jou's ear so only he could hear him. "Remember no one can take away your heart. If he is the mate you choose, don't let him go. I can see his love for you as well." Atemu rose and followed after his smaller lover and Mokuba, leaving Jou stunned on the chair.

"What did he say?" Kaiba asked instantly.

Jou chuckled and swung his legs around so he could sit back in Kaiba's lap. "He told me not to let you go."

Kaiba smiled. "I won't let you go either." He turned more serious and glanced at Jou. "We have a lot to talk about, but not here. Anyone could come in and listen." Jou nodded and stood up. He followed silently behind Kaiba, wondering how much the CEO was keeping from him. Jou's mind drifted to his father. Did he truly want the man dead? He knew that his father could be charged for kidnapping, assault, drug use, prostitution, rape, and a few other things that he was sure Kaiba could figure out, but all in all, that wouldn't warrant him life in prison without a chance of parole. Jou glanced at Kaiba's back. Worst of all, he didn't want something happening to Kaiba if he told him to have his father killed. What if the police traced it back to Kaiba? Even though he was sure that Kaiba would make sure it couldn't be traced, but was it something they should risk? Jou didn't even know how far in the underworld his father was. Would his bookie let him fall or would he use money to save the elder Jounouchi. There was too much at stake.

Kaiba opened the door to his bedroom and walked in. Jou shut the door and walked over to the window while Kaiba sat on the bed. "What about those men?" Jou asked right away as he fought the memories that came to the surface.

"They are still alive. I haven't decided what I wanted to do with them. They deserve death for what they did to you."

Jou walked over to Kaiba and sat down on the bed. Neither one of them touched each other as if knowing that now wasn't the time. "I don't want you killing anyone."

Shocked, Kaiba stared wide eyed at Jou. "What? Why?"

A tear rolled down Jou's cheek before he had a chance to fight it. "I don't want to lose you."

The CEO smiled softly and pretended he didn't see the tear. He wanted to give Jou some of his pride that Jou thought he lost back. He knew what Jou was talking about and was touched that he would think so far. Kaiba was on blind fury and wasn't thinking about something like that. He leaned back further on his arms and stared at the ceiling. "Did you have any ideas on how to handle this?"

"I think we should let the police take them."

Kaiba slid further back and lied on the bed with his legs over the edge. "Do you know what that would mean?"

"They could get out eventually."

"That and we'll have to tell the public our story."

Jou paled and glanced back at Kaiba. He knew that all of Japan wouldn't care about some random street thug being abused and raped by his father and his friends, but it would be worse for Kaiba. The press already knew something about the kidnapping, but not all the details and their relationship together. He wondered what the public would do to the strong willed CEO when they found out about his five hours of sexual torture. Would they treat him differently? "I'm so sorry," Jou said quickly. "I never thought about that. I never thought about how you would feel about that. The press would cover the whole trial. Oh gods, they would find out ever detail of your five hours." Jou started to breathe heavily and shake. "They would tear you apart without any care."

Kaiba glanced up at Jou and grabbed his hand, pulling him down with him. He wrapped his arms around the trembling blond. "I don't care about that. That was only five hours, but you had years of torture. Why do you not think of yourself as well as me?"

Jou gasped and pushed away from Kaiba, curling up at the foot of the bed with his back to Kaiba. "They would blame me for your torment like you should. If you never got involved with me, you would still be fine. I should have just told Mokuba that you were sick and left. I should have never done all that. You would have left me alone then."

Kaiba pulled him back into his arms, struggling with Jou. "Listen to me right now." Kaiba flipped him around to look at Jou right in the eyes. "Are you listening?" Jou nodded, shocked that Kaiba was being firm. Out of all the time they spent together, he never heard Kaiba's voice this firm. He was scared. "Even if you never helped him through my cold I would have still found you. Do you know how many times I thought of you after we graduated when I didn't see you at graduation? Do you know how many times I worried about you when you didn't show up for class and how difficult it was to pretend like I didn't care? The gods brought me to your restaurant. I was on my way home when I realize that I could barely focus on driving. I thought it was the fact that I was hungry and not that I was getting sick. I knew that the restaurant was closing soon, and I was just going to order something quick, but I saw you. You looked so lost and sad. I realized at that point that something happened and I wanted to know what. I kept thinking of different things that I could do for you just to keep you close to me again, but my mind was extremely clouded. Even at the end of our conversation I couldn't think of something and then I thought of it. A large tip would draw you towards me."

Kaiba ran his fingers down Jou's hair, pushing some of it behind the blond's ear. "I waited outside for you. I was planning on following you even though I felt horribly sick. You gave me a heart attack when you slipped and fell on the ground. I thought you were seriously hurt, and I ran to you. My sick body hated that, but I had to know you were alright without you thinking that I was waiting for you. That's when I realize that the gods were granting my wish. I was seriously sick, and you weren't the type of person that would just walk away from someone who needed help. I still don't know what you did while I was sleeping, but I never recovered from a cold that quickly."

Jou chuckled. "You learn a few tricks when you know that school isn't going to accept your excuses anymore. It was more difficult doing that to myself than with you. I was happy seeing you again, but I did notice that you weren't yourself, but I was happy anyhow to have a few minutes with you. You always gave me something to live up to, a reason to keep living." Jou's smiled turned into a frown and tried to get the subject back on track. He loved knowing that Kaiba truly cared for him. "I still think we should still give them to the police, but I don't want to ruin your reputation."

"I don't care about that. Nothing is more important than Mokuba and you. The company will still stand. If I lose a few partners over something like this, then they weren't people I wanted near me. Are you sure about doing this? Think carefully. I could get rid of all of them, and it won't ever come back to me."

"But there's a chance," Jou interrupted. "If you don't mind, then yes I'm sure. I don't want to make things difficult, but I want to do this in a way it could never take you away from me."

Kaiba kissed him gently. "Nothing will take me away from you. We have one more thing to discuss."

"What about that man that tortured you?"

Kaiba was shocked. That wasn't what he was going to talk about. "Roland is trying to find him. Apparently your father isn't talking and there is no evidence on that man."

"He had a tattoo on his back by his left shoulder. It was a phoenix. I noticed that before I turned away from watching him."

"Thank you. That might help in finding him. Was there any other details about his back that you remember?"

Jou shook his head. "I didn't want to stare at him or make you think like I was watching your torture." The blond bit his lip not liking his next question. "What about DNA?"

Kaiba frowned. "He used a condom, but your father didn't. The doctors got samples of your father's semen. They don't know it yet, because they have nothing to compare it to, but they will once I tell them who it was. The doctors took a lot of samples from you. I'm sorry. I told them it was four men."

"I don't regret you telling them that. They might not have taken more than one sample if you didn't tell them. This way we can have as much evidence as we can that isn't just hearsay. What are we going to tell the police? We had them captured for a while now."

"They know about my security. We'll just say they tracked them down."

"What about my father and his men saying that they were trapped by you?"

"They are in a room with no light. They don't know how long they were in that room. I could easily say that my security was questioning them in order to track the missing man which is true I might add."

Jou chuckled. "You do think of everything."

Kaiba frowned. "Almost everything. I would have thought about having extra security if I wouldn't have underestimated your father."

"We're going to continue to self blame ourselves, huh? How about we start over from this moment on? It was neither of our faults. It's in the past. We'll have to relive it with the police and at trial, but after that it's past."

"Agree, but I have one last question before we put the past where it belongs. Who did you sell your deck to?"

Jou was shocked that Kaiba was asking again. He purposely didn't continue that conversation at the hospital for a very important reason. "Someone. I didn't ask for his name."

"I don't believe that. You'd never trust your deck to someone you don't know. Tell me, please."

"I needed money so I had to turn to someone that had money. I wasn't going to sell all my cards for cheap." Jou paused again, praying for another interruption.

"Katsuya, just tell me."

"Otogi. I knew he could resell my deck after that so I made the price as high as possible. He didn't bat an eye at the price. He gave me the money and warned me that I'd never see them again. I took the money and glanced back only once. I betrayed my cards only to help myself." Jou sat up and reached into his holder and pulled them out. "I don't deserve to have them back."

Kaiba placed his hand over Jou's deck. "They know your reasoning and have forgiven you judging by their performance today."

Jou smiled, glad that Kaiba now believes in the heart of the cards. "I thought you would be angrier that I sold my deck to Otogi."

Kaiba chucked and rolled fully onto the bed. "I can understand. At that time you believed that Otogi was more of a friend than I was. If you came to me, I would have given you the money but never resold the deck. You probably thought I would either never give you the money or would have destroyed the deck afterwards. Correct?"

Jou nodded and placed his deck on the nightstand before curling up next to Kaiba again. "You were the first person that came to mind, but I was afraid. I didn't even know if I could get through the channels in order to meet you. I knew Otogi would meet with me in an instant, and he would never do anything to my deck beside resell it. Though I do wonder who he sold all the cards to. I'm sure Yugi and Atemu know."

"Let's not focus on that right now. How about a nap?"

Jou chuckled. "Is my little dragon worn out?"

"You try dealing with the press twice."

"That's okay. I'll leave it to you."

Jou had just closed his eyes when the door to Kaiba's room burst open. The two instantly jerked up but relax when they saw it was Mokuba. "The press know you two were raped while you were kidnapped."

"What!" Kaiba shouted. He didn't know how they could get the medical reports that easily especially since they've only were released a few hours ago.

"What are we going to do? Atemu and Yugi stayed back at their home. We managed to get there no more than one second later some crazy fan came in and started questioning Yugi about Jou's rape. That's when they shut down the shop before more people could come in. It's all over the news. There are people everywhere. Roland had to use the third secret entrance and abandon the car in order to get me back into the house."

Kaiba reached over for the controller to the television. He stopped before turning the television on. "First we need to know how much they know. Then we need to track down which news broadcast had it first. We'll need to get the police involved now. Where is Roland?"

"He's organizing the security around the house."

"Once he's finished, we'll need to bring those men to the police station. We'll have to make our police statements here in the house." Kaiba got up and glanced out the window. "Until this calms down we won't be able to get out of the mansion."

Jou got up and closed the thick blue curtains. He wrapped his arms around Kaiba. "We'll get through this."

Mokuba walked over and hugged Kaiba and Jou. "I'm sorry, both of you."

Kaiba rubbed Mokuba's back. "It's not your fault. I'm just happy you made it back here safely. Let's move down to the study. We'll watch the news there. I'm sure I'll start to get emergency calls and emails soon." Kaiba reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, dialing Roland's number. "When you finish meet us in the study. We need to discuss things." Kaiba hung up the phone and glanced back at the two. "Let's go." The CEO threw the controller on the bed and walked out of the room. Jou wrapped his arm around Mokuba's back and followed the all business Kaiba. This was something he didn't expect ever happening. How did they manage to get copies of their medical reports?

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I hope that explains about a few things. There are still a few more chapters left that will have more things revealed. Sorry about the slight cliffhanger. The next chapter will be out tomorrow again around this time. Thank you for reading. Please review.

Angel Dove


	17. Chapter 17

Thank you again to RainingHearts4Ever for noticing my huge mistake, but I did fix those two paragraphs when Mokuba walks into their bedroom. I apologize for not paying attention. I wasn't listening to myself again. Thank you FantasyWriter93 for your review.

Warnings: Language

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Chapter Seventeen

The three walked down the long dark corridors of the mansion until they finally reached Kaiba's study. Kaiba walked over to the large cabinet and opened it, revealing a big flat screen television. He turned the news on and watched in horror as their story was revealed to the public. "For all of you that have just joined us this hour, there are unconfirmed reports that Seto Kaiba and his new boyfriend, Katsuya Jounouchi, were sexually assaulted during the time they were kidnapped." Kaiba growled and turned away from the screen, ignoring the rest of the report.

Mokuba placed his hand over his mouth. "I knew it was bad, but I can't believe how much they know."

Kaiba glanced over at Mokuba before sitting down at his desk. Jou sat on the leather chair directly across from Kaiba. He kept half his attention on the television. "There seems to be some messages," Kaiba said, noting the red light on his phone. He turned the computer on and his email instantly popped up. "And my email is maxed."

Jou glanced over at him. "Anything I can do for you."

Kaiba chuckled. "Sorry, Katsuya, but I think this is one thing I have to handle on my own. Thank you, though," the CEO answered politely. He did appreciate Jou's offer, but knew he had to handle this part on his own. "On second thought. How about you watch that television and try to remember everything they say. Maybe they might slip where they got the information from. Once they are done with the story move to another news channel."

"Okay." Jou turned towards the screen as Kaiba picked up the phone. He was making his way through messages and emails noticing that most of them were people expressing their sympathy. Some where angered that he would release that information through the news and believed it was a false story.

Kaiba rolled his eyes and deleted most of the emails and messages. A quiet knock preceded Roland's entrance. "Is everything secure?"

"Yes, Kaiba-sama."

"We need to get Jou's father and his men to the police without the press seeing. I don't need more problems from them. We need someone working on who got that information."

"I already have a team working on that and another team working with the police to release our prisoners into their custody."

Kaiba smiled. "Always a few steps ahead of me."

Jou turned away from the television and looked at Roland. "Did my father tell you who he sold Seto to?"

"No, but we have to release him before we hurt our chances of getting the maximum penalty."

Jou stood up and glanced back at Kaiba. "I want to see him."

Kaiba stared at Jou's eyes for a few minutes, trying to find the reasoning behind his request. "Why?"

"I may be able to get the information you need."

"What makes you think whatever you do to him would work? Roland and his men have been interrogating people for years. If they can't get the information out of him, then no one can. I can't let you near that man." Kaiba shook his head and placed his hand in his folded hands. He knew how much Jou feared his father and couldn't allow the still recovering blond near that monster.

Jou slammed his hands down on his desk, feeling like normal times when they didn't get along. "You were able to confront your tormentor, weren't you?"

Kaiba glared at Jou, fighting the memories he struggled to keep control of lately. He hated remembering what Gozaburo did to him, but ever since the kidnapping, it was becoming surprisingly difficult to control his thoughts. "I never got to confront him. I did not push him out the window or force him to do it. The only thing I did was take over his company. When he died, he left me with nothing by that company and those horrific memories. I buried myself into the company and turned into a monster just like him. He won, Katsuya. He lives inside of me waiting for me to drop my guard so he could make me that monster again."

Mokuba ran over to Kaiba and pulled his hands free from gripping each other. "Don't, Seto." He placed both hands in his own. "I've forgiven you a long time ago. Yugi and Atemu banished that evil from your heart. You're a good person now." Mokuba knew how to handle these thoughts from his brother. Even though it was a silent agreement that they would never talk about the abuse he suffered through Gozaburo, Mokuba could still tell that it was more than mental abuse. His brother had scars that he couldn't figure out where they came from.

Jou's heart felt ready to burst. He didn't mean to make Kaiba remember all those events. "I'm sorry, Seto, but Mokuba is right. Atemu made sure that the second time he defeated your evil that it was permanently gone. You don't have to fear about that part of you returning. The items are sealed away, and no one can use them ever again."

"If that is true, then why did Atemu and I have to go back to Egypt to retrieve you? I can't let my guard down." Kaiba squeeze Mokuba's hands before placing his hands back down on the desk. It gave him comfort knowing that Mokuba still remembers how to pull Kaiba out of his mind. He hated placing that burden on his younger brother, but his obsession with constantly being on guard drained his strength daily, and he would find himself trapped in his memories.

"That wasn't the Shadow Realm. I don't fully understand what happened there, but it had nothing to do with evil. It wouldn't have been a bright light. I think I was meant to learn something there."

"And what might that be?"

Jou smiled and walked around Kaiba's desk. He turned the CEO in his chair to face him before leaning down and placing a kiss on his lips. He knelt down on one knee. "I was meant to learn that my love for you wasn't something I should fear. I need your strength and comfort just as much as you need mine. We have a long road of recovery, and I'll stand by your side ever step of the way just like I know you'll do for me." Jou paused. "But, it's unfair that all my tormentors were captured and on the way to be handed over to the police. Why won't you let me try to face my fears and get the information we need to find that man that tortured you? It would mean so much to me if I could help you," Jou added. He wanted Kaiba to understand his feelings.

Kaiba glanced over at Roland who has been quiet the entire time. He knew that there was a way of getting out of the mansion unnoticed, but was it worth the chance. He did love Jou deeply and wanted to do anything to protect him. His mind was screaming at him not to allow Jou near his father again, but he knew that he couldn't shield Jou forever. This could help Jou recover or make him worst. Kaiba sat there thinking for a long time. He knew that he didn't have much time before his men moved Jou's father out of their hideout and to the police station. Once inside of the police station there would be no breaking that man and the only confrontation the police would allow Jou would be from behind a thick mirror. Kaiba stared into Jou's eyes, seeing the pleading look in them. He knew that Jou wanted to feel like he helped Kaiba in some way, but he didn't want to risk Jou falling apart. "I could always help him pick up the pieces," Kaiba thought before nodding. "Alright," he whispered.

Jou smiled brightly. "Thank you."

Kaiba turned to Roland. "Let's get out of here and over to the hideout. Delay the police for an hour. Mokuba, you're coming with us. I can't leave you in this place alone even if it is protected or drop you off at Yugi's place." Kaiba glanced out the window seeing the snow falling again. "Go put on something white. Katsuya, follow me. We need to find you an outfit that isn't like the black ones you bought. Roland, be ready in five minutes to move."

"Yes, sir." Roland bowed and left the room. He had a smirk on his face as he opened his phone. He pride himself in knowing that Kaiba would want to get the information himself. He was pleased that he left one plan ready at moments notice. "Kaiba-sama will be leaving for the hideout in five minutes. Is the plan ready? Good."

Mokuba ran up to his room pleased that his brother wasn't pushing him away this time. He wanted to be there for not only his brother but for Jou as well. He reached into the back of his closet and retrieved his usual outfit for a snowy sneak away. They had outfits made for every element just incase something like this happened and the press made it difficult to leave. He ran down the stairs after getting dress and met with Roland, a few of his security, and the man dubbed as "Kaiba the second."

Kaiba and Jou walked down a few minutes later, wearing nearly identical clothes. Jou stopped in shock, causing Kaiba to run into the back of him. "What?" Kaiba chuckled. "Oh, that's Kaiba the second. You think I wouldn't have someone that looked like me to distract the press whenever I needed to get to an important meeting." Kaiba faced his look alike. "Are you ready for this, Hiro? They may be worse than normal."

"Of course, Kaiba-sama."

Jou started chuckling behind Kaiba. "He doesn't sound like you at all!"

"Hey, Mutt, who let you out of the pound? Don't tell me someone adopted you," Hiro said in the perfect Kaiba voice.

Jou laughed harder, leaning over and clenched his stomach. "Oh that's grand!" Kaiba couldn't help but laugh as well. "Let me guess. You send him out while you continue to work when you wanted to get my attention."

Kaiba continued to laugh. "Why give him the pleasure? He's back at the office while I'm outside with you."

All the security men around them were stunned. They had never seen their boss laugh that hard before or even tell a joke. Hiro glanced at the blond man in front of him. Something about him was changing their cold-hearted boss. Hiro smiled, happy that someone was finally breaking the ice. Mokuba shook his head. "You guys going to get ready to go, or do you want to sit here and laugh the rest of the night?"

Kaiba instantly sobered. He couldn't believe he laughed like that in front of his top security. Roland shook his head, silently indicating to Kaiba that he had nothing to fear. "Right," Kaiba answered. "Let's get moving. Put your hoods up."

Kaiba reached for his hood and started down towards the basement while Kaiba the second walked towards the garage. Half of the security went with him while the other half followed Roland and the second group. Kaiba opened the door to the library and walked over to one of the bookshelves. He pushed a button to the side of it and the whole shelf disappeared into the floor. The door behind it opened and a strong cold wind brushed passed them. Roland went first, glancing at his watch. He pressed the com unit in his ear and listened. Once he received the message he was waiting for, the older man pushed on the secret entrance open. He walked out first, looking around before nodding to the second security behind him. Slowly the group made their way from the entrance and through the snow covered yard. Jou glanced back, seeing the last security man brushing their footsteps away and sprinkling what looked like new snow down on the ground. Jou was impressed with the whole plan. They climbed into an awaiting security van. Kaiba placed Mokuba in the middle while Kaiba and Jou sat on either side of him in the back row.

The van moved away from the back entrance of the garage carefully and quietly. It was normal for when Kaiba left the mansion during high press coverage days to have a second security van leave through the back. Kaiba pulled his hood down and looked at Roland who sat in the passenger side. "Well?"

"Successful mission. They took the bait."

"Where would Hiro go?" Jou asked.

"Kaiba Corp. until we are ready to return," Kaiba answered.

"Do you do this often?"

"Not as often to make it professional. The press don't normally hound like this. Roland, did you manage to delay the police?"

"They weren't scheduled to come to the hideout for another two hours."

Kaiba smirked and shook his head. "Sometimes you know too much, old friend."

Roland glanced back at Kaiba. "Isn't that what you pay me for?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes and glanced at Jou. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive."

The rest of the ride to the hideout was quiet. Jou was impressed by how far out of the city that Kaiba hid his father. Even if his father escaped, it would still take him a few days to figure out where he was and how to get back to the city. The van pulled up in front of what looked like a rundown three story school nearly an hour later. The windows were all boarded up and pieces of the cracked window could be seen through the wood. The double doors leading inside leaned against the foundation of the doorway. The sign in the lawn indicating what school it used to be was covered in dirty snow and had half the letters wore off from the weather and neglect. Everyone walked up to the building as if it didn't look abandon. "Mokuba, I want you to wait in the control room. Monitor the cameras and let Roland know if you see anyone that could have followed us. Plus give us the heads up on when you see the police coming down the road."

"Got it." Mokuba ran through the small entrance that the broken doors formed.

Jou walked through the door last, noticing that there was a second wall a few feet from the walls built along the perimeter of the building. It gave the school its rundown look. Kaiba walked along the small passageway until they reached a dark corner that could not be seen by anyone who would look through the windows. He pushed opened the heavy metal door and walked into the brightly lit, clean room. Two armed guards stood in front of each door around the area. Kaiba glanced back at Jou who continued to look around in the long hallway full of doors and guards. The blond followed Kaiba until he stopped outside of one of the door. The two guards separated, allowing them access to the door. "Your father is in here. Ready?"

Jou took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The blond reached for the door and pushed it open. The inside looked completely different from the outside. It was dark and dirty. It smelt like human waste and blood. There was nothing in the room but a man chained to the wall in the far corner. He was gagged and dried blood and bruises lined his body in the areas that wasn't covered by his torn clothes. Kaiba stepped into the room after Jou followed closely behind by Roland. The door slid shut while the lights turned on in the room. Jou didn't hesitate even though he felt his body trembling. His father glared at him.

The blond ripped the gag off the older man's face, trying to play fearless. "You worthless piece of shit. You think that with your new toy you can keep me trapped here."

"You underestimate the situation you're in, Father," Jou hissed. The anger he wanted started to boil in his blood. "I'm not keeping you here. I just needed you here long enough to make your bookie believe that you stiffed him out of his money. He isn't happy at all. The torture he's thinking of putting you through makes me shutter. I'm glad he didn't own me. You were a blessing to me compared to everything he said he was going to do to you." Jou glared at the man in front of him. "Let me tell you something, Father, it hurts to have two guys dicks inside of you. From what I hear, you'll have four."

Fear flashed for a second through the older blond's eyes. Jou smirked. "Oh, he won't be finished at that. I think I even gave him a few ideas by mistake."

"You're lying. You never talked to him."

Jou placed his hands behind his back and glared at his father. "I wasn't going to take the beating for you. Not this time. He wants you. He's pissed that you got all that money for selling 'my toy' to that man. It was supposed to be a giant payout for both of you, huh? Your men are all dead. There's no one to back your story."

"You fucking whore. You'd never sell out your own family."

"I'm sorry, Father, but I'm only doing what you taught me." Jou glared at him. "Surviving. You see if I give you over with all the money I can forever be out of this business. I will I be fucked by the people you were planning on selling me to. I get away free and clean. I can start a new life. One that I don't have to worry about the hospital bills ever other day. I hope you can survive all the torment you put me through."

"What do you want?"

"Oh, now you want to make a deal with me. You see I took the other deal. You couldn't offer anything better than what he did."

"You don't want to know who took your toy's virginity."

Jou reached into his pocket and pulled out the pocket knife he placed in there. Kaiba moved, but Roland placed his hand in front of him, preventing him from moving towards Jou. The CEO glanced up at Roland. He was worried about Jou's sudden change in attitude and didn't want this going on any longer. "Why would I care? He's mine now, isn't he? I don't remember which one of your men took me first. It's not affecting me."

"I'll give you his name if you let me go and forget you saw me."

Jou snickered. "Why would I do that? I told you I'm not taking your punishment for you. Plus I don't even think you know his name." Jou pulled out his cellphone as if it vibrated. "Yes? Bobby! Yeah, I found him. We're on our way back now. I hope it's okay if I roughed him up a little. Oh really? I'll let him know." Jou hung the phone up and smirked at his father. "Well, Father, Bobby has someone already lined up for you." Jou started to walk back towards Roland and Kaiba.

"Akira Katsu!" Jou's father yelled.

Jou smirked and walked back to him. He slammed the knife directly beside his head and into the wall. "Are you certain?"

Roland leaned down to Kaiba. "We need to get you three out. Mokuba says the police are on their way."

"If you let me go, I can even contact him for you." Jou pulled the knife out of the wall and walked away. He didn't even bother to answer his father. His strength was starting to run out.

Kaiba nodded to him and left the room with Roland. Jou walked out, ignoring his father's rants and threats. Once the door was shut, Kaiba pulled Jou away. "The police are almost here."

They met Mokuba by the van and got into the back. Roland leaned in. "I'm staying behind. I'll let them know that the van was dropping off the prisoners. Good luck." He shut the door, and the car instantly started to move. Mokuba watched the police drive by before glancing back at Kaiba.

Kaiba had his eyes firmly on Jou. "Are you okay, Katsuya?" Jou nodded, keeping his eyes out the window. He felt his body tremble and knew he needed to keep it together so they could get back into the mansion. Kaiba could tell that Jou was barely staying with them. He prayed that they could make it back inside of the mansion before anything happened. He hated forcing Jou to do something like that, but he had to think of their protection. He was determined to make it up to Jou later.

The return trip was the same as when they left, except this time the limo with Kaiba the second was coming through the gates and flock of people instead of leaving. Kaiba was the one in the lead of their group, working his way back to the secret entrance. They got upstairs to the main hallway. Hiro was already shedding his disguise. Jou couldn't make it another step before collapsed to his knees. "Katsuya!" Kaiba shouted, running over to him. Jou was trembling in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I was trying to make it back to your room."

Kaiba rocked him gently in his arms. "It's okay," Kaiba whispered. "Thank you for your courage. You did great." Kaiba leaned down and kissed Jou's sweaty forehead. Jou smiled and cuddled closer in Kaiba's arms, not caring about the scene they were making in the hallway. Mokuba nodded to his brother before disappearing into the living room to watch the news. He wanted to make sure they were kept in the loop and knew that Kaiba would be distracted for awhile. Hiro disappeared sometime during the whole scene to return to his post. Jou's trembles began to disappear, and he closed his eyes. He felt more relaxed now being in his lover's arms. Kaiba lifted the nearly sleeping blond and walked him into the living room with Mokuba. He placed him on the couch and pulled the blanket off the back to place it over Jou. He gripped Jou's hand underneath the blanket and sat on the floor next to him while the blond slowly drifted to a deeper slumber. He turned slightly to watch the news with Mokuba who sat in the chair closest to the television. The fire that was still burning gave a gentle glow to the room. Before Kaiba noticed, he fell asleep leaning against the couch with his hand firmly holding Jou's. Mokuba turned towards him and smiled. He knew how tired his two older brothers were. Mokuba walked another blanket over to Kaiba and wrapped him in it. He returned to the television, watching the new report of the police walking Jou's father into the police station.

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The next couple chapters will be the trials. I should have the next chapter out earlier than this chapter. Thank you for reading please review.

Angel Dove


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you dragonlady222, FantasyWriter93, and Symmetry-Meister for your kind reviews. This is officially the longest word chapter of my story, breaking my last record. Hurrah! I've already beat my record for longest word story several chapters ago LOL.

Warning: Violence

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Chapter Eighteen

The trials were long and tedious. It took most of Kaiba's free time, leaving barely any for Jou and Mokuba. Kaiba sat at his desk, rubbing his forehead. The headache that he felt pounded constantly for the past few days. He threw the results to his lawsuit into his briefcase. Luckily he was able to track down the individuals responsible for releasing Jou's and his medical reports. His lawyers were in charge of that phase and saw that they won. He glanced at his watch with a heavy sigh. With constantly running between the courthouse and his work, Kaiba felt drained and could barely keep up on the paperwork. He packed a few of the documents that lined his desk into his briefcase. Dragging himself out of the office, Kaiba took the long elevator ride to the basement where the limo was waiting for him.

As every other day for the past two weeks, the limo pulled away while Kaiba pulled out a small document to work on. The limo stopped and Kaiba waited for his security to push a pathway open. The press shouted questions to him as he passed and walked into the back entrance of the courthouse. He quickly traveled through corridors until he reached their private waiting room. Jou was already inside with his head down on the table. Kaiba placed his briefcase down on the table. "How long have you been in here?"

"The break started two hours ago," Jou's muffled voice came from his folded arms.

"Why didn't you call me? I could have been here with you earlier."

Jou sighed and picked his head up. "You have work that you need to get done. I'm sick of this, Seto. Why can't it be over? I'm so sick of hearing about our abuse." Jou's eyes were red and puffy. He rubbed at them and watched as Kaiba pulled out some of the paperwork. "The dinner break should be over in ten minutes."

Kaiba placed his paperwork away and moved over to sit next to Jou. He squeezed his hand. "I can take a few weeks off from work or until the trials are over."

Jou shook his head. "You have to run the company. I can handle being here all day long. The thing that keeps me going is knowing that it's almost over for the day when I see you come in."

Seto placed his forehead against Jou's and stared at him eye to eye. "We both can't handle this alone. I could barely focus on work. The only time I see you is here and then by the time we get home we're both in bed. I leave before you wake in the morning."

"Your forehead is warm," Jou mumbled.

"What?"

"You're getting sick again, huh?"

Kaiba moved away from him. "My body will fight it off."

Jou sighed as the officer walked into the room, informing them that the second part of the trial will be beginning soon. Kaiba and Jou sat down at the table along with Kaiba's team of lawyers. Kaiba stared at the witness on the stand, not paying attention to anything that was going on. He felt lightheaded. A couple times he thought he heard Jou whispering something to him. He didn't know what happened during that part of the trial or when he moved from the courthouse to the mansion. The next thing he remembered was Jou wrapping his arms around him and leading him up to their room.

"It's a strange sense of déjà vu," Kaiba mumbled.

Jou chuckled. "You weren't this awake the last time I took care of you. What is it about this time of the year that makes you sick?"

Kaiba groaned and rolled over on top of the bed, remembering the events of last year that started this whole thing. He didn't care that he was still in his suit. "Hard to believe that it's been a year," he mumbled.

Jou pulled at Kaiba's pants. "Lift your butt up." The CEO did as he was told and helped Jou shed all of his clothes until he sat in nothing by his boxers. His body felt extremely hot, and he was thirsty.

"Can you get me some water?"

"Of course. Get under the blankets."

Kaiba smiled and did as he was told. He felt horrible as he closed his eyes. He never heard Jou come back with his water and some medicine. The blond sighed and went to the bathroom for some washcloths. He pulled the blanket up and draped one of the wet cloths over Kaiba's feet and started wiping away the sweat that collected on Kaiba's forehead. Jou yawned and chose to sit on the bed instead of in the chair like last time. He yawned and turned the television on in order to keep himself awake. Unlike last time, Jou wasn't sleeping well the last couple of weeks. Jou managed to take care of Kaiba for the first few hours before sleep won over him.

The next morning Kaiba awoke to having Jou draped over his lap. He ran his fingers through the blond's hair. He tried to hold his cough in, but it wasn't enough to keep Jou asleep. "The water is in the ice bucket by your bed," he mumbled. "The ice might be melted by now."

Kaiba smiled and reached down for the floating water bottle. Kaiba drank some of the water while Jou still didn't move from his position. The CEO continued to stroke his hair and back, knowing that Jou enjoyed the feel of his fingers. "You have a magic touch when someone is sick." Kaiba coughed a little before leaning back against the bed.

"If I did you wouldn't still be sick the next morning." Jou yawned and flipped on his back to look at Kaiba. "I say we skip today."

Kaiba smiled softly running his fingers along Jou's cheek. "I wish we could. Today is the last day with all of your father's men. Then, his trial starts next. After that we'll start the hardest trial with that fat asshole that raped me. I can't believe he's not in prison now."

Jou rolled over and placed his face into Kaiba's stomach, hugging him. The blond hated the fact that Kaiba's rapist was free to do what he wished until his trial. Security was tight and neither one of them was able to leave the house unless they were surrounded by guards. Mokuba attended school with a guard in every one of his classes and a few positioned at various parts of the school. Oddly enough, Mokuba didn't mind. It was like Kaiba did that for him before. Jou leaned up from where he lied in Kaiba's lap. He stared at his bright blue eyes for a second before turning his head and licking Kaiba's neck. He kissed and sucked on the heated skin. Kaiba moaned and placed his hand behind the blond's head. This is what he enjoyed the most, the soft gentle touches. Neither one of them was able to move further than the touches. They would get as far as wearing nothing but their boxers when one of them or both of them would become afraid and have to stop.

"I don't want to get you sick," Kaiba mumbled through a moan as Jou licked down his neck to his chest. He licked and sucked on Kaiba's nipple before moving over to the next one. Kaiba's phone began to ring, but Jou didn't seem to notice or care. Kaiba reached for it and placed it to his ear. "Kaiba," he said as firm as he could put his voice through the pleasure.

"Mr. Kaiba, I have a message from a little birdie." Kaiba's entire body stiffened. Jou stopped and looked up at Kaiba who had fear in his eyes. "He says that if you want to continue enjoying that little blondie or keep your last remaining family alive, you will do you know what. Oh, I almost forgot. He enjoyed his night with you and wishes to do it again. Five hours seemed so short to him. He wishes to schedule an entire weekend with him. Think about it." Kaiba dropped the phone. He tried to get control of his trembling body, angered that a simple threat could scare him.

Jou reached for the phone, making sure that the line was dead before he placed it on the nightstand. "What is it?" Kaiba started to curl around him, but Jou wouldn't let him. "Talk to me." Jou pushed his legs down and sat in his lap. He wrapped his arms around Kaiba's trembling body. "Was that him?"

Kaiba shook his head. "Someone working for him." The CEO's voice quivered with his body. "He threatened you and Mokuba's life if I was to go forward with the trial. He also said that Akira wanted to schedule an entire weekend with me."

Jou squeezed Kaiba tightly feeling the slight wetness on his shoulder where Kaiba's head lied. Jou held in a growl. He wanted that man to pay for all the suffering he put Kaiba through. He hated seeing Kaiba like this. Jou glanced at the clock and quickly got off Kaiba. "We can't let Mokuba leave for school. They might be planning something today."

Kaiba looked at the clock and took off down the hallway in nothing but his boxers. It was about time for Mokuba to leave. "Mokie!" he shouted down the stairs before the raven haired teenager could touch the doorknob.

"Seto, are you okay?" He turned around just in time to have Kaiba wrapping his arms around him. "What's wrong?"

"You can't go to school today."

Hiro looked over at Roland who nodded before approaching the two. Jou managed to make it down the stairs holding Kaiba's robe. He placed it over his shoulders. "Kaiba-sama, did something happen?"

"Someone working for Akira called my cellphone and threatened all of us."

"Hiro, do a perimeter check with the other guards. I'm going to trace that call." The two security men left the three still standing in the hallway.

"Seto, you're body is really warm. Do you have another cold?"

Kaiba moved away from his embrace and pulled the robe fully over himself. He didn't know if he was shivering from the cold or fear. Jou walked up behind Kaiba and rubbed his hands on the CEO's arms. "He has another cold. Come on, Seto, we need to get ready for court. You're not going to the office today."

"Wait, if he threatened all of us then you two should stay home today."

"We can't," Kaiba mumbled. "It might be enough to call for a mistrial if we miss. Plus, the public needs to see that we aren't backing down, and we're not afraid of them." Kaiba walked back up the stairs leaving Jou with Mokuba.

"Does Seto usually call your school when you're not making it?"

"Mostly, but I can do it. Be careful today."

Jou smiled and ruffled Mokuba's hair. "Like always. We'll see you tonight." Jou walked back upstairs and entered into the room he shared with Kaiba. He heard the shower running and could see that Kaiba had already selected the suit he was wearing for the day. Jou glanced at the colors and walked into the closet to select something that didn't match. Even though everyone knew they were together, he still didn't want to show up to court in the same colors. He walked out of the closet just as Kaiba came out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Jou swallowed and tried not to stare at the dripping wet body. Kaiba was rubbing another towel through his hair and turned his back. Jou frowned and looked at the scars. He knew that Kaiba hated the constant reminder of that day, but there was nothing either of them could do about them.

Kaiba dropped the towel from his hair and glanced at Jou through the mirror. "Make sure you call your secretary and tell her you're not coming in today. Mokuba is already calling his school. Are you okay?" Jou asked gently.

Kaiba cleared his throat. "I'm calmer." A strong serious of coughs shook Kaiba's body. He braced his hands on the dresser. Jou walked over to him and handed him a glass of water he got from the bathroom and some medicine. Kaiba kissed Jou's cheek. "What would I do without you?"

Jou smiled softly. "Still be in that bed unable to move. My turn for the shower."

Kaiba pulled out a clean pair of boxers and socks. "I'll meet you downstairs, Katsuya."

"Okay," Jou shouted through the door before starting the shower.

In less than an hour the two were ready for another day at court. Kaiba hugged his brother on the way out the door, promising to stay safe. The first half of the day consisted of the remainder trial of the last man that raped Jou. It was no surprise to anyone that he was given a guilty verdict just like the three before them. Even though the men couldn't be trialed for much other than rape, they did received several years in jail. The judge made a decision to start the elder Jounouchi's trial that afternoon instead of the next morning. The trial was scheduled to begin at two o'clock, giving Jou and Kaiba a three hour long break.

Jou paced in their private waiting room while Kaiba continued the paperwork he never finished the day before. He had a water bottle close at hand for the coughing fits he was still having. The room was quiet except for Kaiba's coughing and sneezing. Finally Jou said something he never thought he would say. "I want to see my father again."

Kaiba looked up from his work. "Why?"

Jou thought for a few minutes, deciding not to tell Kaiba his true reason. "I need to say something to him. Something that I didn't get a chance to say before."

Kaiba frowned and reached for the phone. He knew a long time ago not to question Jou. He could tell by the blond's pacing that he had something on his mind. He arranged for a meeting a half hour from that moment. The two made their way down to the jail and waited for Jou's father in one of the rooms with two of Kaiba's lawyers and the older blond's lawyer. The older man was escorted in. "What did you want?" he hissed instantly.

"Mr. Jounouchi, please do not speak. My client would like to know what brings you here," his lawyer spoke for him.

Jou glared at his father. "Where is the tape?" Kaiba glanced at Jou, hiding his confusing behind his mask before shaking his head at his lawyers. He didn't think about the tape only because he figured Akira had it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The hell you don't. Where did you hide it?"

"Do you have a deal for me? I hear the judge is starting today."

"Maybe."

"Let's hear it."

"Kaiba-sama, Mr. Jounouchi, perhaps we should talk about this first," Kaiba's head lawyer interrupted.

"You get a roommate that isn't going to make you his bitch," Jou continued, ignoring the lawyers.

Jou's father laughed. "No deal. You offer something better and maybe I'll think about what tape you could be talking about." The elder blond smirked at Kaiba.

"Wait, Katsuya."

"Hush, Seto." Jou turned towards his father. "I'll keep my testimony about what you did to that prostitute the night before I started my senior year."

Jou's father paled. "You have no proof to anything that happened in that house."

"That's enough, Mr. Jounouchi. Don't say anything more," the lawyer representing Jou's father kept interrupting, but it seemed like nothing could stop the two.

"You were extremely drunk that night. You forget that you beat my brains out and started fucking her in the same room. Yes, Father, I heard her screams and pleas for you to stop. What did you do? I distinctly remember you strangling her to death in order to get her to stop screaming. I forget what you used. Oh, now I remember. You're belt that mysteriously vanished the next day. I believe her blood is on it."

The elder Jounouchi sat back unfazed. "If you had that belt you would have already entered it into evidence and I'll be on trial for murder, wouldn't I? I will not help you save your toy. Plus, I wouldn't have it. His security burst through the door that same day."

Jou smirked. "We're done here." The blond rose and walked out the door.

Kaiba followed quickly after while the lawyers stayed behind to discuss what just happened. Kaiba pushed Jou up against the wall. "What were you thinking?"

"Your evidence exists."

"Even if it does, Akira has it. There will be no way the police could find it. He probably has it stashed away. You do realize you could have jeopardized your father's entire trial."

"You're not thinking like him, Seto."

"What?"

"Did your security tear that place apart?"

"Of course they did. There was no camera or anything that could be interrupted as there was a camera there to begin with."

"What about outside? What if my father threw it out the window?"

Kaiba started walking down the hallway and thought about what Roland said. They waited by the entrance for the security to open a path to the limo. Once inside Kaiba looked at Roland who sat by the door. "Did you check outside of the building we were being held in for a tape or a camera?"

"No, Kaiba-sama. We never saw them come out after we saw Akira Katsu leave."

"Get a team over there and search the outside. I want the inside searched again. A tape does exist."

"Right away." Roland pulled out his phone and started giving orders.

Kaiba turned to Jou. "I'm sorry. I kept forgetting that you know your father better than anyone. Was that story true about the woman? Did he kill her?"

Jou frowned and stared out the window. "No. He was so drunk I don't think he'd remember. She was terrified and badly hurt, but I managed to get her out of the house. I think she said something to the other prostitutes though. After that it seemed like when my father would bring one of them over, they would nurse my wounds after he passed out. Well, all of them except for that woman he brought when my father…" Jou's voice cracked as he trailed off.

Kaiba slid closer to Jou and pulled him into his arms. "Thank you. You do more for me than I do for you."

Jou shook his head. "You saved me from my father. If it weren't for you, I'd still be trapped in that world of pain."

"Kaiba-sama, Mr. Jounouchi," Roland interrupted. "We'll have to take you around the front entrance. Apparently someone was hiding in the alleyway behind the back entrance. We have extra security in place already."

"Who was the person?"

"Someone with a balloon full of paint. Just for your safety, we're changing where you enter."

"Okay."

Roland held up a finger and pressed the com unit in his ear. He smirked and glanced over at the two across from him. "They found a camera hidden in a garbage bag that sat in the back alleyway. It looked like someone threw it out the window. The camera is smashed, but the tape looks fine. They are bringing it back to the mansion now."

Kaiba smiled and hugged Jou. "I don't know what made you think about that, but I could never thank you enough."

Jou chuckled, seeing the courthouse coming into view. "Now all of us can have our justice. I'm sure this would not only kill Akira's reputation but his entire pharmaceutical company."

Kaiba suddenly turned serious and looked outside. "Something doesn't feel right."

Roland glanced at Kaiba. "Stay here for a second. I'll check." Roland left the limo and glanced around the area. He knew from experience to trust Kaiba's gut instincts. It had gotten them out of trouble many times before. Once he was sure that no one was around, he opened the door and leaned in. "I don't see anyone outside. Stay close to me."

Jou and Kaiba ignore the press like always, but Kaiba couldn't shake the slight fear he felt. They entered the main hallway just as shots ran through the area. Kaiba instantly turned to Jou. "Katsuya!" he shouted, unable to move towards him with his security grabbing him and pushing him to someplace more protected. He saw his other security doing the same to Jou, but the blood on the floor had him worried. They managed to get the struggling CEO into a room with only one door and no windows.

Roland walked over to Kaiba, pushing him half on the table. "Seto, stop struggling. You'll hurt yourself more."

"Where is Katsuya?" Kaiba hissed as Roland placed something over his shoulder. He looked at his shoulder, seeing blood.

"He's fine. Hiro is with him. He's not hurt."

"But the blood."

"It's yours." Roland groaned and pulled the ear piece out of his ear. "He wants to talk to you."

Roland handed over the ear piece and microphone. "Seto! Seto, are you okay! Damnit, Roland, tell me he's okay," Jou shouted at the top of his lungs.

"It's me," Kaiba answered. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"You stupid billionaire. I'm not the one that got shot. Where were you hit?"

Kaiba hissed as Roland removed the cloth and replaced it with something else. "In the shoulder. Are you hurt?"

"No. I'm fine."

Kaiba's phone instantly started ringing. "Mokuba is calling me. I'm sure he saw it all on the news. Can you call him and tell him I'm fine? I think Roland wants to get me to the hospital."

"You let your head of security know that he can't take you without me. I'll tell Mokuba you're okay," Jou answered more calmly.

"I will." Kaiba smirked at Roland. "You better take him with us or else he'll tear you apart."

Roland snickered and took the ear pieces back. He called Hiro and asked him to meet them at the limo. Roland stuck his head out of the door and saw only a few people running for the exit. He looked up to the second floor and saw the police still struggling to subdue the shooter. He nodded to his security that helped Kaiba off the table they shoved him on. He radioed for Hiro that it was safe to move Jou.

They struggled their way through the crowd of people and press until they reached the limo that still sat outside. The second the two got to the limo, Jou was already questioning Kaiba and pushing his hand away from his shoulder to look at the wound. "It's okay, Katsuya," Kaiba mumbled. "Is Mokuba staying at the house?"

"I told him to. He wants to come to the hospital, but I told him you'll be okay, and we'll see him in a few hours."

"Thank you." Kaiba leaned against the back of the seat, feeling slightly tired and lightheaded. Now that the adrenaline was calming, he felt the pain more. He heard Jou still talking to him, but it sounded like echoes, and he had trouble focusing on it. Before he knew it, he collapsed into the unconscious world, not hearing Jou's concerned voice calling his name.

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The next chapter will be out tomorrow around the same time. Sorry about another cliffhanger. The rollercoaster ride is almost over. It's time to bring this ride to a stop. Thank you for reading. Please review.

Angel Dove


	19. Chapter 19

Thank you dragonlady222, FantasyWriter93, and Symmetry-Meister for your kind reviews. We are officially on the end stretch to the story. There is an estimated one or two chapters left after this one. I just need to tie a few things together. This is the last chapter for the trials.

Warnings: Yaoi (ManXMan) if you don't like it I don't I'm surprise you are still reading this.

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Chapter Nineteen

Jou stood in the living room to Kaiba's mansion. He stared at the fire flickering in the fireplace. The golden lights danced along the walls in the dark room. Jou felt strangely unfulfilled. Even though his father got twenty plus years in jail for ruining his life, he still felt like he deserved more. He didn't know what he wanted from his father, but he knew he didn't want to end his life. He would never want to give his father the easy way out. He wanted him to suffer. Jou felt arms wrap around his waist. He smiled as he was pulled into Kaiba's warm embrace. He breathed in Kaiba's cologne with a shudder. He enjoyed the way the burnet smelt and the warmth his body gave off. "You're not wearing your brace again," he whispered. The blond knew that Kaiba wouldn't be wearing the brace like he should. The doctors did say Kaiba was lucky that the bullet went straight through, causing no damage besides the deep wound.

Kaiba kissed the side of his neck. "I couldn't hold you probably if my arm was in a sling. What troubles you?"

"That's a silly question."

"You think he should have gotten longer?"

"I don't know. It doesn't feel like it's complete. I feel like there should have been something else that happened. Then, I feel selfish thinking that knowing that your trail with Akira will begin tomorrow."

"You need to stop thinking of all the negative."

Kaiba pulled Jou over to the couch and sat down on it. Jou turned around in his lap and stared at Kaiba's beautiful eyes. Kaiba placed his hand on Jou's cheek. He leaned up and kissed Jou. Even though he was nervous about the trial the next day, trying to get Jou to calm down was his first priority. Their lips and tongues caressed with each other. It was late at night and neither one of them expected the sleeping Mokuba to interrupt them. Kaiba moved his mouth to Jou's ear and sucked on the lobe. "Do you trust me?" he whispered into Jou's ear.

Jou moaned. "More than anything."

Kaiba gripped Jou firmly in his arms and stood up, leaning most of Jou's weight to his healthy shoulder. The blond wrapped his arms around Kaiba's neck and his legs around his waist. The CEO carried Jou up to their room and lied him gently down on the bed. With the soft blanket underneath him, Jou released his strong hold on Kaiba. Kaiba pulled Jou's shirt off, throwing it on the ground beside the bed. He licked and sucked the skin that was revealed to him, earning moans from his blond lover. He pulled Jou's pants off, leaving his boxers. Jou's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he felt Kaiba's hot breath and soft lips all over his body. He wanted more than what he was receiving from Kaiba.

Jou reached up and pulled Kaiba's shirt off him, running his fingers against his warm chest. Kaiba felt his pants becoming tight. He groaned from the pressure and removed his pants. Jou ran his fingers along the tented area of Kaiba's boxers. Kaiba fisted the sheets below him and moaned. The burnet lied down on top of Jou, rubbing their erections together. Jou gasped Kaiba's name shivering from the pleasurable touch. Kaiba hooked his fingers into Jou's boxer only to stop when he felt a grip on his wrist. He moved his hand until their fingers were intertwined.

Kaiba leaned down and licked Jou's ear. "I won't beyond your comfort level. I promise. Let me caress you." He reached down and removed his own boxers. "Let's take another step, Katsuya." A few seconds passed before Jou nodded. Kaiba very slowly removed Jou's boxers. He slid his fingers up and down Jou's member before gently grasping it. Jou moaned, feeling all the pleasure erasing the horrors in his life.

Jou slid his fingers up Kaiba's thigh and glanced up at his lover's face. Kaiba nodded before Jou grasped his own member. He moaned. Everything felt perfect and as if they were meant to be. He leaned down and licked Jou's member from his base to the tip. Jou groaned and gripped the sheets below him with his free hand. He reached his shaking hand to Kaiba's chin and made him look at him. "Turn around," Jou gasped, trying to keep his mind focused on what he wanted instead of the pleasure.

"What?"

"Turn around." Jou pulled Kaiba's leg until the burnet flipped around. He positioned Kaiba until his member was a few inches away from his mouth. He stuck his tongue out and licked the tip. Kaiba shuddered and moaned before catching on to what Jou was doing. He leaned down and pulled Jou's member completely into his mouth, using his strong shoulder to hold his weight. Jou gasped and moaned. "Oh gods, Seto." He controlled his thoughts and pulled Kaiba into his own mouth. Kaiba moaned around Jou's member. The pleasure that plagued Jou's thoughts made it difficult for Jou to focus, but he planned to make this as enjoyable as Kaiba was doing to him.

Jou suck and twirled his tongue along the head while his fingers massaged Kaiba's inner thigh. Kaiba pulled away from Jou's member and gasped. He placed his head down on Jou's thigh, attempting to catch his breath. Once he calmed his shivering body down enough, he nibbled at the tip of Jou's member before sliding his mouth completely down on it again. This time Jou moaned. Kaiba mimic the sound, feeling himself getting close. It took a few more seconds before Kaiba moaned loudly around Jou's member, releasing into Jou's mouth. He felt Jou's tongue and lips milk everything out of him. Jou's member twitched in his mouth. Kaiba swallowed it as deeply as he could before Jou released.

Kaiba released Jou's member and collapsed on top of Jou, breathing heavily and feeling extremely relaxed. After a few moments, Kaiba turned around and lied next to Jou. That was all the courage he had that night. His body trembled from the aftereffects of his orgasm. Jou snuggled close to Kaiba. "Thank you," he whispered.

The CEO smiled. "I should be saying that as well." Kaiba kissed the top of Jou's head and pulled the blanket over their nude forms. "I love you," Kaiba whispered. "More than I ever thought possible."

Jou smiled and wrapped his arms around him. "I love you, too, now and forevermore." Jou found himself falling into a blissful sleep, one that he hadn't had in several weeks.

Kaiba watched as his lover fell asleep. His breathing even out and ever muscle in his body relaxed more than it was. He ran his fingers along his back. "One day we'll find our happy ending and live happily ever after," Kaiba whispered and snickered. He still remembered Jou calling him his knight and shinning armor and wondered if it was possible to get Jou to dress up like a princess. Kaiba laughed softly. "That would be impossible," he thought, falling into a deep sleep.

The next morning Kaiba woke first. He was out of the shower and dressed before Jou stirred in his sleep. "You can stay in bed today if you would like," Kaiba whispered, kissing Jou.

"Out of the question. You were there for my trials. I'll be there for yours. Give me a half hour. I'll be ready."

"Okay. Do you want anything for breakfast?"

"No, just a cup of coffee. You can make it in a to-go cup if we are pressed for time." Jou shut the bathroom door. Kaiba smiled and tied his tie before walking out of the room. He didn't want to seem forceful to Jou, but he was grateful that the blond wanted to go to the courthouse with him.

He fixed himself and Jou a cup of coffee and joined Mokuba at the dining room table. "Good morning, Mokie,"

Mokuba dropped his spoon in the bowel of cereal and stared at his brother. "Okay what happened? Did you drink a whole pot of coffee while you were in there, or did something good happen last night?" Mokuba wiggled his eyebrows.

Kaiba blushed. "Nothing like that happened." He frowned and sipped his coffee. "Maybe not for a little while." Even though he still considered Mokuba his baby brother, he found himself talking to him more and more about the things that stressed him or he wasn't sure about. It was easier than hiding it until it became too much for him and he lashed out on people that didn't deserve it. "It's still difficult to think about. I'm still scared," Kaiba admitted.

Mokuba smiled and reached across the table to hold Kaiba's hand. "It'll get easier in time. I know you can recovery from this. You both can."

Kaiba jumped when he felt sudden hands on his shoulders. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Jou sat down beside him. "Mokuba is right. We'll work through everything slowly. You're not the only one that is still scared." Jou sipped the coffee.

Kaiba reached over and held Jou's hand. Mokuba smiled. He loved seeing how close they were getting. It was as if they didn't have to talk to each other in order to say everything they wanted to say to each other. Mokuba got up and put his empty bowel in the sink before returning to the dining room. "Be safe, big brothers," he said quickly, grabbing his backpack and walking out the door with his personal security.

Jou smiled. "He called me his brother."

Kaiba chuckled. "You are family." He rose and left his coffee cup on the table. "Let's get moving." Jou finished the rest of his coffee and followed Kaiba towards the door. He held his hand until they reached the door where Roland waited for them. He was touched that Mokuba considered him to be a brother. He frowned thinking of his sister. He wondered why he hasn't heard from her. Usually Shizuka would find some way to contact him. He tried to get in contact with her a couple times, but his mother hung up on him. Jou sighed and released Kaiba's hand as Roland opened the door. "What's wrong?" Kaiba asked.

"Thinking about my sister."

"Do you want to call her?"

Jou shook his head. "I've tried that a couple times. My mother won't let me talk to her."

"What if I called first?"

"Same thing will happen. She's not the type of person that would be afraid of you, Seto."

"How did you two communicate before?"

"She sent video tapes of herself and I wrote her letters, but if I asked her a question in the letter she never answered. I don't think my mother ever gave them to her. When I first became friends with Yugi, I had him send her a birthday card and I would place my note inside. That was the first time she responded. That's how we communicated for awhile until my mother found out that Yugi was my friend." Jou and Kaiba climbed into the limo. Jou watched the city fly by still thinking about his sister.

"Your mother does know that you paid for her operation, doesn't she?"

"Yes, we were starting to talk then, but Shizuka ran away from the hospital to see my duel with Yugi, remember? My mother was furious. I haven't seen her since the end of Battle City."

"Does she have email? You can email her now."

"I don't know if she does, and I can't find out if she does. My mother knows my tricks, and I'm sure she opens all over Shizuka's mail. She won't let me or any of my friends speak to her. Let's talk about this later, Seto." The limo stopped outside of the front entrance to the courthouse. Kaiba was shocked that he wasn't paying attention. Normally he knew when they were getting close without looking out the window. He was more concerned about getting Jou what he wanted. He felt shame that he didn't think about it the entire year they were together, but he didn't know that they weren't communicating.

The door opened and Jou got out. Kaiba trailed slightly behind. "I have a task," he whispered to Roland. "I need you to send one of your best over to follow Shizuka Kawai. When she is alone tell him to get her email from her and hand her a private cellphone that she is to keep away from her mother."

"Yes, sir."

Jou was halfway through the main entrance when he noticed that Kaiba wasn't beside him. He turned and waited. "What's wrong?"

"Reorganizing security," he lied. "Akira is probably getting desperate." They walked over to the room that Kaiba now called the torture room. He was tired of looking at it and was thankful that Akira was the last trial. The only thing after that would be the sentencing phase of all guilty parties, but that wasn't schedule until the end of the month. They would at least get a few weeks break from seeing that place.

The officer that came and got them was surprisingly the same woman for all the other trials. They walked into the courtroom that looked more like a business meeting. There were suits everywhere. Akira sat at the end of his table with three lawyers beside him and five behind him. Jou glanced over at Kaiba's table to notice that the CEO's lawyers had increased as well. Akira stood and smirked at Kaiba. The burnet stood strong. Akira didn't know that they had Kaiba's torture on tape. Since they had already submitted their evidence, they had to wait until today to add the tape. Kaiba wasn't proud of having the jury see it, but his lawyers promised that it wouldn't be the whole thing.

Kaiba sat at the table next to Jou. The blond moved his hand in Kaiba's line of vision before folding three of his fingers down. Kaiba smiled and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. It was the strangest motion of comfort they found during their long days. It seemed like their roles were reversed. Kaiba was always the one giving Jou the finger commands. One finger met to take a drink of water, two was to breath, and three was to ask for a break because you look like you're about the breakdown. Even though Kaiba wasn't with Jou during the morning and half of the afternoon parts of the trials for the men that raped Jou. He was there every step of the way with his father's trial.

The trial began with Kaiba's lawyers requesting the entrance of the tape as evidence. Kaiba glanced over at Akira's paling face. After both sides argued their case, the judge allowed the tape. Kaiba smirked, knowing that it was now over for Akira, but his heart raced at having to relive everything again. Jou's fingers moved again. Kaiba took a deep breath and let it out. Jou was keeping a careful eye on Kaiba. Even though his lover had his perfect emotionless face up, he could tell the other subtle things that made him know that he was stressing. Kaiba would run his fingers through his hair or fold his hands together indicating that something was bothering him.

Day one seemed to go much faster than the others. The opening statements were long, but the judge chose to start with the witness testimony after lunch. The lawyers chose to keep Jou and Kaiba's testimony for last, giving them the opportunity to back out if they needed to. As each nurse and doctor gave their testimony and even Roland, Jou began to get more and more nervous. He testified against his father and the men that raped him, but this seemed different. Jou didn't know whether it was luck or not, but the judge decided to stop the trial after the last doctor for the day.

After being released from the courtroom, Kaiba's lawyers pulled them into their private room. "Are you two still okay to testify tomorrow?" the head lawyer asked.

"We're fine," Kaiba answered quickly, taking only one glance at Jou.

"If you two change your minds tomorrow, let us know right away."

"Of course. May we leave or do you have more things to address?"

"Part of the tape would be used during both of your testimonies. Is that okay?"

"Whatever you need to do to put this guy away. If he did this to anyone else maybe it would give them the courage to come forward as well. It could put him away for longer if there was more than just me. Let's go home, Katsuya." Kaiba was struggling to keep his cool. He didn't know if it was anger, frustration, or depression that was making him less patient, but it was something he planned to address the next time Jou and him had their sessions. That had reminded him that they hadn't gone in over a month. Kaiba knew he hadn't gone, but he wasn't sure about Jou.

Jou smiled and walked with Kaiba, knowing full well that Kaiba's mind was distracted. "Breathe."

"I am."

The two moved into the limo and road silently home. They didn't need to say anything in order to comfort each other. Kaiba didn't remember much of the remainder of the night. He found himself later on, still awake and lying next to Jou's comforting warmth. He couldn't lie and say he wasn't nervous about the public seeing the tape or hearing what Jou and himself had to say about that night. He worried that his emotionless face wouldn't be able to hold out during the whole testimony, but then he thought maybe it wouldn't be horrible. The press would see it as he broke down, but then the jury would see it was something more than just someone accusing someone else of rape. He wanted the jury to see the real him and that this event had affected him deeply, but he was afraid of what everyone would think of him. He frowned. Did he really care what other people thought? He remembered telling Jou that he never cared about what others thought. Why did he care now? He glanced down at Jou, knowing that he wore his heart on his sleeve. His lover would defiantly show his emotions during his testimony. He sighed and pulled Jou closer to his chest. "Seto," Jou mumbled, "Please try to get some sleep." Kaiba smiled and kissed his forehead. It shocked him at how quickly Jou was learning his nervous habits. He knew that he wasn't going to get much sleep, but it didn't mean he wouldn't try.

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The next chapter will be out early tomorrow. I just have a few more things to edit with it. It's almost done. Thank you for reading. Please review.

Angel Dove


	20. Chapter 20

Thank you Lily 272, dragonlady222, FantasyWriter93, and bankroll1001 for your kind reviews. First off, I'm sorry this isn't out early like I said. LOL I got addicted to decorating my house for my favorite holiday; Halloween! Now that my house is decorated I'm able to go through and edit this chapter and finally get it uploaded.

Warnings: None

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Chapter Twenty

Jou locked up the bakery for the third time that week. He was beginning to think that his lucky streak was turning unlucky. He hid a yawn behind his hand and leaned against the side of the wall to wait for his ride home. It had been almost two years since he moved in with Kaiba. All of the trials were finally finished, and the two were on their road of recovery. Jou stared up at the afternoon sky, watching the beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows mixing with the blue sky. He remembered the relief he felt once Akira's trial was over. Surprisingly, a few other men and women stepped forward and accused Akira of sexually assaulting them. He never bothered to find out how those trials went, but he was sure Kaiba knew. To him, the torture they went through was now past and it was finally time to move on.

Jou glanced back at the bakery he now worked in. It was a few blocks away from Kaiba Corp. which gave Jou the interpretation that Kaiba may have a part in getting him this job, especially after Jou denied the job at Kaiba Corp. He sighed and looked down the street again. "He's late," Jou mumbled to himself but smiled. He was sure that Kaiba was still trying to catch up on all the paperwork that he fell behind in. It did take Jou a couple of months of studying with Kaiba to finally graduate from high school and landed himself an assistant management job at the bakery.

The blond moved off the wall when he saw a long black limo driving down the road. It pulled to a stop in front of him and Jou got in. He frowned at not seeing Kaiba in the backseat. He just buckled his seatbelt when the driver's voice came through the speaker. "Kaiba-sama apologizes for not coming to pick you up personally. He has a late meeting and will be home later."

"Okay," Jou sighed and leaned against the soft leather seats. "A late meeting again," he mumbled to himself. Lately Kaiba has been coming home later and later using the excuse of having late meetings. He didn't know so many people would be able to meet late at night. Jou leaned his head against the side of the limo. He feared that Kaiba was bored with him and found himself someone else to date. He bit his lower lip and shook his head. "No, he wouldn't do that. He's too forward. If he was bored with me, he'd tell me to get out or something," Jou continued to talk to himself.

The limo pulled up along the side of the front entrance. Jou got out before the driver could come around and let him out. It was nice being able to walk through the front entrance again without having to worry about the press taking pictures of them getting out of the limo. Mokuba came running down the stairs upon hearing the limo pulling up. He yanked the door opened and blinked at only seeing Jou. "Seto is working late again?" Mokuba mumbled. "I guess it's just you and me, big little brother."

Jou smiled and ruffled his hair. "Did you finish all your homework?"

"Of course. If I would have known Seto would have been staying longer, I would have waiting until you got home. We could have done it together. I guess that means more time to play video games with you then."

"Maybe a little later, these twelve hour shifts are getting hard."

Mokuba followed Jou upstairs to his room. "They still haven't found a replacement manager?"

"No. It's getting difficult running that store from open to close." Jou collapsed on the soft blue covers of the bed.

"What about appointing you as manager and finding someone else as your assistant?"

Jou shook his head. "I don't have enough experience for that." Jou curled up and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Mokuba, but I just need a few hours of sleep." Mokuba pulled the covers out from under Jou and tucked the blond in. He closed the door quietly and walked down to the kitchen to inform the chef that it was just him for dinner.

Kaiba walked out the front doors to Kaiba Corp. He was tired and knew Jou would more likely be upset about him not making it home for dinner again. He was about ready to get into the awaiting limo when a white car pulled quickly up behind the limo. A tall black haired woman jumped out of the passenger seat. "Seto," she shouted and launched herself onto the taller man. She hugged him tightly before letting go to hold up a small black box with a smile. Kaiba opened the box and smiled softly as he ran his finger over the small object inside. He leaned down and kissed the woman on the cheek before opening the door and allowing her to enter the limo first.

Atemu moved out of the shadows beside Kaiba Corp. He growled and dialed Yugi's number. "Aibou, I think our lovely new friend is cheating on his lover."

"Impossible. Kaiba would never do something like that to Jou. They've been through too much together,' Yugi's bored voice came over the phone. "What are you doing watching him anyway?"

"I wasn't. I was bringing you home a present when I happened to see him leaving his office. I was going to ask him what has been going on between him and Jounouchi when this woman pulled up behind his limo. They just left together.

"Maybe she's one of his business associates."

"She carried a small black box, Aibou. She was very happy to have it. It's starting to make sense. Jounouchi was telling me about Kaiba's late nights and his excuses of having a meeting all those times. I think we should tell Jounouchi."

"I don't want to hurt him nor do I want to risk their relationship. You don't know what was in that box."

Atemu sighed and started walking back towards their house. "Alright, Aibou. But if Jounouchi asks, I'll tell him everything I know."

"Agreed. Now what did you buy me?" Yugi asked, trying to distract his lover from what he saw. He trusted Kaiba and hoped that the burnet didn't ruin that trust.

Atemu smirked and looked at the bag he held. "You'll see, but you might want to shower before I get home." Yugi chuckled and hung up before Atemu could say more. The former pharaoh slowly walked back to their home. He wanted to give Yugi time to not only take a shower but to grow excited about the surprised. Atemu opened the bag to look at the long feather and fuzzy handcuffs. Tonight was going to be a long night for both of them.

Kaiba sighed and shut the front door a little past eleven at night. He leaned against it with a heavy sigh. The day was stressful enough for him, but it turned out for the best. The CEO smiled as he placed his hand over the inner pocket to his suit jacket. The small box still remained safe and protected. Kaiba glanced up and half expected Jou to be standing in front of him, but it was Mokuba instead. "Jou is upstairs sleeping. He didn't eat dinner tonight."

"Was it another long day for him?"

"Yeah, I don't think that place wants to find another manager. They're going to wear him out if it keeps up like this. Where were you tonight?"

"No place special. More importantly, why are you still awake?"

Mokuba smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Making sure you got home safe. Good night, big brother," Mokuba answered quickly before disappearing up the stairs. Even though it was rare for his brother to get angry lately, he didn't want to press his luck.

Kaiba smiled and started up the stairs. When he entered into his room, he saw Jou cuddled around his pillow. He took his jacket off and hung it over the back of his desk chair. He untied he tie and unbuttoned his shirt by a few buttons. A soft smiled spread across his face as he sat on the edge of the bed. He ran his fingers along Jou's cheek. The blond mumbled and shifted closer to Kaiba's body. He finished undressing and climbed into bed behind Jou. He pulled the exhausted blond against his chest and closed his eyes. Everything seemed to be falling into place. He hated keeping secrets from Jou, but he wanted to make sure everything was perfect.

Jou woke the next morning to his phone vibrating in his pocket. He groaned and slipped out of Kaiba's arms. He smiled at his sleeping lover, happy that he made it home safe. He glanced at the number calling him before disappearing into the bathroom. "I'll be there in a half hour," he whispered. "They still didn't find anyone? Okay, no it's not a problem." Jou yawned and placed the phone down on the counter before climbing into the shower. He let the cold water wake his tired body. He got out of the shower and dried himself up. He threw the towel down the shoot before walking back out into the bedroom still naked. He wasn't scared of showing his body to his lover anymore and often found himself walking around the room naked more than clothed after he showered.

In his tired sleep, he accidentally tripped over the chair, knocking Kaiba's jacket to the floor. The jacket made a strange thump on the ground. He picked it up and searched in the pockets for what he thought was Kaiba's wallet. He didn't want the CEO to forget it on the way out the door or think he lost it. What he didn't expect was to find a small box in the inner pocket. Jou's mouth went dry, and he placed the box on the desk. He quickly put some clothes on, trying to distract his mind from the box. Jou's heart sank. "Maybe he found someone after all," Jou thought taking another glance at the box. "That would explain where he went last night." He opened the box and looked at the silver ring. It had a dragon in the middle holding a sapphire in its claws. The tail wrapped around the left side of the ring.

Kaiba shifted in the bed, scaring Jou. He quickly shut the box and placed it back in Kaiba's jacket. He ran out the bedroom door, not closing it after he left. He was going to be late opening shop if he didn't leave that second. The driver was already waiting for him. He quickly climbed into the backseat. "Sorry I'm late," he said.

"It's alright, Master Jounouchi."

Jou fidgeted in his seat the whole way there. "What if that ring was for me?" A whole new fear plagued his thoughts. He didn't know if he was ready for that next step. They had yet to make love. Why would Kaiba think of marriage? Jou got out of the car quickly and unlocked the door for his other employees. He moved to the back to first deactivate the alarm and then prepare the register for the day. The two bakers started on the donuts, knowing that they only had forty-five minutes to get at least the first batch made before they opened. Jou quickly counted the money and got the till out into the register. From there he helped the bakers get the donuts and some of the bagels out on the shelves. The morning paperwork could wait until later.

The day went quickly and before Jou knew it he was again the only one left in the bakery. It was one hour until close and still no new manager. He sighed and placed his head down on the counter by the register. The bell at the top of the door chimed and he looked up. He smiled and ran around the counter hugging Yugi. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. I heard from Mokuba that they fired your manager and now expect you to work all these long days."

Jou shrugged. "It's part of the business I suppose." Jou returned to the other side of the counter while Yugi sat down on one of the stools. "Care to try any of our bake goods. They are made fresh everyday."

Yugi chuckled. "After last night with Atemu, I don't want to look at whipped cream or icing for a long time."

Jou laughed. "You got kinky last night?"

Yugi moaned. "Oh, Jou, it was wonderful. I never knew he thought of anything like that…" he trailed off about seeing the smirk on Jou's face. "You told him to do that."

Jou shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"It had to be either you or your sister."

"If Shizuka thought of something like that I'm going to have to watch her more carefully."

"I knew it was you. Thank you. That spice was enough to satisfy me for awhile."

"I don't want the details, Yug."

"More importantly. How are things with you and your dragon?"

Jou frowned. "We haven't gotten any further. I think it might be me. I'm still a little afraid, but he hasn't tried anything in a couple months. Can I ask you something?"

Yugi stared at his friend. "Anything."

"Do you think Seto is capable of cheating on me?" Jou asked quickly. "I don't know what I'm saying. We used to be so romantic together. Every time he was close to me, it was like we couldn't keep our hands to ourselves. Now, we barely touch. Hell, we barely see each other. He works late using excuses that he has a late meeting all the time."

Yugi bit his lower lip. "Maybe he's busy. He does know about your long days these past couple weeks. Maybe he doesn't want to tire you more. It's not like he comes home smelling different or with strange objects, is it?"

Jou frowned, remembering the ring. "He had a ring in his pocket."

"What?"

"I found a ring in his jacket this morning. I doubt we are ready for that step. What do I do if he found someone else?"

Yugi sighed. "Atemu saw him meeting with a woman outside of Kaiba Corp. last night."

Jou shrugged. "That's nothing new. He sometimes takes his business associates out to dinner."

"Atemu says that she was very excited and had a small box in her hand. They got in the limo together." Yugi looked up to see the horror in Jou's face. "But that doesn't make sense. If the ring was meant for her, then why did he take it back?"

"Look, Yug, I'm sorry, but I have to close up shop." Jou glanced at the clock. "I'll talk to you later about this. Was there anything else you need?"

Yugi sighed to Jou's sudden change but didn't question it. He could understand Jou's need to be alone. "No, I just wanted to talk to you. Call me any time. And, thank you again for the little tip you gave Atemu. It was a wonderful night."

Jou smiled at his best friend before waving him goodbye and locking the door. He quickly closed everything down and packed all the extra food away in order to donate it to the local soap kitchen. Once everything was cleaned and in order, Jou alarmed the place and walked out the door. He turned to not only see the limo already there waiting, but Kaiba smiling at him as he leaned against it.

Jou slid into the backseat, trying to hide his fear. "I'm sorry about last night, Katsuya. I know I promised to be home early, but an emergency came up."

"It's okay," he whispered.

"Are you okay?"

"Very tired."

Kaiba frowned and slid closer to Jou. The blond breathed in Kaiba's cologne, not smelling anything else. "They still haven't found another manager?" Jou shook his head. "That's a terrible way to run the business. Should I give them some pointers?"

"That's okay. I'm sure they'll find someone eventually. They can't like paying me all this overtime week after week."

"That's true. I wouldn't be too surprised if they find someone by next week."

Jou turned and faced Kaiba. "Make love to me tonight."

Kaiba was taken back by Jou's sudden change in subject. "Katsuya," he whispered. "It would be my honor to make love to you, but something tells me that you are forcing yourself. What has changed?"

"I don't want you to get bored with me."

"Katsuya, what would make you think that?"

Jou glared at him. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you haven't even kissed me in two months. Your late meetings. Oh, and that ring!"

Kaiba paled. "Oh gods." He forgot to hide the ring. "You weren't supposed to see that ring yet."

"Oh? And when was I supposed to see it? When you introduced me to your new fiancé?"

"No! You were supposed to see it when we went to dinner tonight. That is your ring, silly puppy."

Jou paused for several long minutes. "What?"

"I want to marry you, Katsuya. You will always be the only one for me. No one else could ever replace you." Kaiba sighed and slipped down in the seat. "I had everything planned perfectly. The ring almost didn't arrive on time. I had it specially made, and the creator herself delivered it last night. She was extremely happy that she could get it to me on time."

"That would explain what Atemu saw last night."

"Did Atemu put this idea in your head?"

"Not really. I was already thinking about it before anything was said to me."

"I'm sorry, Katsuya. I shouldn't have made you doubt me. I just wanted everything to be perfect. Can you forgive me?"

Jou thought for a second. "Under one condition."

"Name it."

"We still go to this dinner tonight and you propose to me like you planned."

Kaiba chuckled and kissed him deeply. "Alright."

"Oh, and Seto, that ring is beautiful. I can't wait to see it on my finger."

"All in due time, my love," Kaiba whispered into his ear.

The dinner was beautifully arranged on the balcony overseeing the ocean. The lanterns flickered in the wind and cast its orange glow over the two lovers. Jou loved the smell of the ocean air mixing with the flowers lining the balcony. A violin was being played somewhere close by them. Jou had to admit that everything was perfect. The food, atmosphere, and view were spectacular. Jou couldn't lie or pretend to not know what the day was. It was officially two years since he awoke in Kaiba's mansion after his father beat and raped him in his apartment. Jou smiled lovingly over at Kaiba.

A small two layer cake was pushed over towards their table. The waiter handed the large knife to Kaiba who stood up and cut the cake himself. He placed a piece of cake in front of Jou. The blond smiled and picked up the ring that sat in the middle of one of the red flowers. "Katsuya Jounouchi, today is our two year anniversary since we first announced that we had feelings for each other. Even though it wasn't one hundred percent clear at that moment, and you were healing from the injuries your father gave you, I had no doubt in my mind that this day would come. I would like to replace that day with something you'd never forget. Katsuya, it would give me the greatest pleasure and honor if you'd be my princess." Jou's face changed suddenly and Kaiba pulled out a rose from behind the cake. "Just kidding. Please be my wonderful husband. The man that would always stand by me forever and ever."

Jou smiled brightly and kissed Kaiba deeply. "Yes," Jou chocked. "I will always be by your side no matter what." Kaiba reached for Jou's hand and slipped the perfectly sized ring onto his finger. "But," Jou started, scaring Kaiba. "If you call me your princess again, I might have to hurt you."

Kaiba chuckled and dipped his finger in the icing. He tapped Jou's nose with it. "I promise." The two lovers fed each other the piece of cake, enjoying the rest of the night. After dinner, Jou took a picture of his ring and sent a message to his sister and Yugi. His sister screamed his ear off with delight for the whole ride home, while Yugi sent him a congratulations message back since he couldn't get through to call him. He in turn called Kaiba and expressed his happiness. The remainder of the night, Jou cuddled close with Kaiba. This was the happiest day of his life. No longer would it be laced with pain but happiness.

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I do have an epilogue chapter of their honeymoon. I've been debating for days on whether I should upload it or not. I always struggle with the ending of my stories. So, I need some advice. If you would like to read the last chapter or think this story should end here, PM me or leave it in a review. If a few people want to read the epilogue, I'll upload it tomorrow. Thank you for reading.

Angel Dove


	21. Epilogue

Thank you dragonlady222, Lily272, RainingHearts4Ever, and FantasyWriter93 for your kind reviews. I think I got this to end right where I wanted it. I'm keeping who is the uke a secret until you get down to that part LOL. I'll give you a hint. I got several requests the last time I wrong a story for this person to be the uke.

Warnings: Yaoi, slight language

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Epilogue

Jou stared at the large room in shock. When Kaiba said he had planned the honeymoon, he trusted him, but this was beyond belief. Their luggage was placed off to the side of the entrance. There were flowers sitting in a large blue and white vase on the large table by the mini bar. Jou picked up the card and smiled. They were from all his friends. He placed the card back into the flowers and walked over to the next one of blue and red flowers sitting on the other wooden table. They were from his sister and Mokuba. He gently petted the petals of the red lily and walked over to the door. He looked at the large white bed. He couldn't lie to himself. He was excited but nervous at the same time. He knew his lover was feeling the same. He turned away from the room and walked back into the main room where Kaiba was still talking to the staff.

On the other side of the room was a long beige couch sitting in front of an entertainment system. He opened up the doors of the redwood cabinet and looked at the large television. Clearly nothing was spared with this expensive room. Jou left the doors open and walked over to the double doors leading to the balcony. The second he opened them he could hear the sounds of the ocean crashing into the sandy beach. Seagulls squawked overhead. Jou became transfixed with the disappearing sun. Half of it was behind the blue ocean giving the water a beautiful orange glow. He could clearly see that this week would be the best he ever had. No cellphones or laptops. No bakery or company to worry about. Just him and his lover for an entire week.

Jou sat down on the long wooden chair finding it surprisingly comfortable. He put his head against the back of it, feeling the warm breeze caress his body. The stress of the wedding was finally behind them. He glanced down at his finger, looking at the two dragon rings. Both jewels were sapphires. Kaiba wore a similar ring except his ring had a ruby. Speaking of his lover, Jou took the long glass of champagne held out to him. He watched as the breeze blew through his burnet hair and his partly opened light blue shirt. Jou shuddered, watching Kaiba sit down on the chair. He was a picture of beauty. "Took you long enough," Jou teased.

"I had to make sure they didn't disturb us tomorrow morning when they brought the breakfast tray."

"Threatened their family?"

Kaiba took a sip and looked over at Jou. "Nope, I don't have to do that here. They already know that. I spent enough time here."

Jou chuckled and stared at the almost set sun. "This place is beautiful."

"Fails in comparison to you."

Jou smiled and set his glass down on the table in-between the chairs. He walked over and straddled Kaiba's legs. "Aren't you just the romantic?" Kaiba reached over and set his glass down before he dropped it.

Kaiba glanced up at Jou with the golden rays highlighting his blond hair. He moaned and placed his hands on Jou's waist. "Oh gods, I need someone to make a painting of you standing here during the sunset. You look exquisite."

"That goes the same for you except you looked beautiful in the slightly dark area. We should try you standing out in the moonlight." Jou leaned down and kissed him. Their tongues played and fought for dominance. A task that neither one was making easy. Jou leaned back and sat on Kaiba's knees. "There is so much I need to thank you for."

Kaiba groaned and licked the taste of Jou off his lips. "I'm sure it could wait." Kaiba reached for Jou again, but the blond moved his hands off his waist and placed them in his own lap.

"I'm serious. You don't know how much it means to me that not only did you manage to get all my friends together for the wedding, but my sister. How did you ever manage that?"

"You lied. Your mother was afraid of me, especially since I didn't give her a choice. There was no way your little sister was going to watch our wedding on television."

"Speaking of that. Did it have to be filmed?"

"Not my choice, love. I couldn't get any judge to sign an order to keep the press out of it. Plus there was no way we could keep everyone's cameras away. We were in too much of an open area. That is beside the point. The world now knows I have you forever."

Kaiba reached for Jou again who took his hands and put them back. The CEO growled in annoyance, but Jou had one last question. "The people we dueled and made friends with throughout the years all had red roses instead of your white ones that you had everyone wear. Why was that?"

The sun had fully set behind Jou. "Yugi was upset about that too. He knew you would notice. Those people all had one or two of your cards. They were the ones that Otogi sold your cards to. Apparently part of the request for giving your cards to Atemu and Yugi was that you never found out it was them that protected the cards. Are all your questions done? Can I hold my husband now?"

Jou smiled at him and let his hands go. Kaiba instantly placed them on Jou's waist and ran circles along his hips. Jou should have figured that Otogi wouldn't trust his cards to anyone unless they would treat them well. Jou remembered them all sitting in various parts of the large garden that they got married at. When Jou's heart shattered, they all had a piece of it and returned it to the masters of the heart of the cards. The second time his heart shattered, Kaiba picked up all the pieces and placed them together. Jou smirked and stared down at Kaiba. "What are you thinking about?" the burnet asked.

"Punishment for not telling me sooner." Jou quickly moved off Kaiba's legs and pulled on his arms until the CEO was over his shoulder.

"Katsuya! Put me down."

"I don't think so." Jou ignored his lover's protests. He kicked the doors to the balcony shut and walked into the bedroom. After kicking that door shut and locking it, he glanced at the light switch, noticing one was labeled for the candles. He flipped that switch, seeing the candles that lined the walls around the room turned on. They flicked like they were real candles. He threw Kaiba down on the bed, watching the covers and pillows shift like water. He took only a breath and didn't think before his body began to move.

Before Kaiba could recover, Jou was on top of him, one knee between Kaiba's legs and the other beside his waist. He kissed him deeply, pushing his tongue into the gasping mouth. Jou unbuttoned the rest of Kaiba's shirt and glided his fingers over his nipples. Kaiba moaned, feeling his body heating. Rational thought left his senses and the only thing he thought about was the pleasure Jou was giving him. Jou glided his fingers down Kaiba's sides and to the buttons of his beige pants. Kaiba gasped as Jou reached into his pants and stroked his hardening member. Kaiba leaned up and pulled Jou's shirt off.

He attacked the blond's neck, sucking and licking. The nervousness and fear flew out the window. Kaiba lied back down and stared up at Jou's honey eyes. He ran his fingers over the scars on each side of his shoulders. One was where the glass pieced him and the other was the bullet wound. He gasped as Jou took his pants and boxers off. The cold touched his heated flesh causing shivers to run down his body. Jou quickly pulled the rest of his clothes off and lied on top of Kaiba. He kissed him, coaxing his lover's tongue into battle. He didn't want Kaiba to think. All he wanted was to feel all the pleasure that both of them knew existed between them.

Kaiba gasped, feeling their erections rubbing together. He massaged circles into Jou's back while the blond nibbled at his neck. Jou reached down and wrapped his hand around both of their erections, pumping them together. Kaiba mirrored Jou's moan. "Oh, gods, Katsuya, it's in the drawer already."

Jou smirked and released them. He was already on edge and could tell by Kaiba's fast breathing that he was as well. He reached up to the drawer and ran his fingers blindly through it until he picked up the first bottle of massaging oil. He placed that on the nightstand for later and reached in again for the cherry blossom scented gel. He never asked where Kaiba found either one of those bottles. He heard of fruit flavored and scented lubricate but not cherry blossom. He handed the bottle to Kaiba who pushed it back in his hand. Jou looked down at Kaiba's half closed blue eyes that glistened in the soft light. "Are you sure?" Kaiba nodded and licked his dry lips. Now on the edge of taking the final step, Kaiba was feeling extremely nervous, but he trusted his lover more than anyone.

Jou leaned down and kissed Kaiba, trying to calm his own nerves. He didn't want to hurt the burnet nor scare him away. He squeezed some of the cold gel onto his hand and smoothed it over his fingers. He waited for his body heat to warm the gel. He slipped his other hand into Kaiba's and intertwined their fingers. He broke the kiss with Kaiba and moved slowly down the burnet's body. He kissed his way down Kaiba's firm chest, never breaking their hands apart. Jou licked the head of Kaiba's member, pulling a groan from his lover's lips. He knelt completely between the burnet's legs. He kissed the CEO's stomach and glanced up at him. "Remember," he whispered, holding their hands out in front of Kaiba. "This is me. If it becomes too much, you pull on my hand. I will stop."

Kaiba nodded, not trusting his voice. He didn't want to know if his voice was shaky like his body felt. Jou pulled Kaiba's hand to his lips and kissed it before placing their hands on the burnet's stomach. He licked Kaiba's member from base to tip. He took one last look at Kaiba's eyes, making sure they were still looking at him before he wrapped his lips around his member. Kaiba gasped and squeezed both Jou's hand and the covers below him. Jou bobbed his head a few times, licking along the slit as he came up and twirling his tongue along the base as he went down.

Kaiba felt nothing but the pleasure Jou was giving him until he felt Jou's finger massage the outer skin of his anus. His body instantly tensed. Jou sucked strongly on Kaiba's member. The burnet quickly relaxed allowing the finger to move inside of him. Kaiba hissed and Jou felt the pressure around his finger. He didn't move it or pull it out. He let Kaiba's member slide out of his mouth. "Relax, love." He leaned up, moving their hands to the side of the bed, but not moving his finger out of Kaiba. "Let me in, Seto," he whispered in his ear. "It's just me. It's Katsuya. Open your eyes and look at me." Jou lifted himself up so that Kaiba could see him when he opened his eyes. Slowly the burnet's eyes opened. The muscles around Jou's fingers eased. "That's it, Seto. Relax."

Jou moved his finger in deeper. The blond messaged the walls to Kaiba's rectum until he found the small buddle of nerves. Kaiba's body jerked and shuttered. "Katsuya!" he shouted and moaned. The muscles relaxed around Jou's finger, and he could see his member leaking. He smiled at Kaiba, feeling his body giving away. He inserted another finger, finding less resistance.

"That's it, Seto. You're doing great." Jou moved his finger across Kaiba's prostate again, enjoying the sound of his name. After several long minutes of talking to Kaiba and massaging, Jou had three fingers inside of him, stretching him.

"Please, Katsuya," Kaiba begged. "I can't hold on."

Jou removed his fingers and pulled his other hand up to his lips, kissing Kaiba's hand again. "I need this hand for a second." The burnet slowly released his hand and reached for the bottle of lubricate before Jou could. He sat up and kissed Jou deeply. At first he thought Kaiba was going to back out. Then, Kaiba shocked him by coating Jou's member with the slightly cold gel. Jou moaned into Kaiba's mouth. Kaiba moved his fingers slowly up Jou's member, twirled his soft fingers along the tip, and back down again. Jou's body shuddered. He couldn't hold on much longer either.

The blond placed his hands at Kaiba's lower back and gently eased him back down on the mattress. He moved his hands down Kaiba's buttock and slowly across the burnet's thighs. He placed Kaiba's legs around his waist before putting his hand back into Kaiba's. Jou stared down at Kaiba's face for a few minutes, watching every expression. He smiled softly and ran his finger along Kaiba's cheek before moving down to guide himself into Kaiba's waiting body. He agonizingly slowly pushed himself inside. Kaiba gasped and hissed, but never shut his eyes. Once fully inside, Jou waited for his lover's body to adjust. The blond counted in his head, trying to keep his rational mind focus. He didn't want to hurt Kaiba, and from what he read in all those books, if he wasn't careful, he could hurt him.

He felt Kaiba move underneath him. He looked down at the burnet's smirk. "Hurry, Katsuya." Jou chuckled and pulled out until the head was just inside and then pushed back in slowly. Kaiba growled. "Faster, silly puppy."

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to call me puppy anymore," Jou teased. "Maybe I should leave you the way you are for that."

Kaiba growled and released Jou's hand. He wrapped both arms around Jou's neck and glared at him. "Don't you fucking dare." Jou kissed Kaiba deeply. He pulled out of Kaiba and pushed back in faster this time. "Katsuya," Kaiba gasped. Jou alternated between slow and fasts thrusts, attempting to pull every type of noise out of Kaiba's lips.

The burnet was extremely close. He could barely breathe, and he felt like his body was on fire. Jou picked his lover up so he sat in his lap, never missing a beat. Kaiba leaned back on his arms, giving Jou the perfect angle to hit his prostate. His arms felt useless and if it weren't for Jou's arms on his lower back he would have fell back on the mattress. Jou moved one of his hands between them to stroke Kaiba in time with his thrusts. It didn't take long before Jou heard his name being shouted and a long stream of semen shot from Kaiba's member. The walls clenched around Jou's member, pulling him over the edge as well. "Seto!" he shouted and moaned.

Jou collapsed on top of the sweaty, heavy breathing burnet. Once feeling returned to his limbs, Jou pulled himself out of Kaiba. Jou glanced down to make sure Kaiba wasn't bleeding. Kaiba reached up and ran his finger through Jou's blond hair and left his hand behind his head. "You didn't hurt me," he whispered.

Jou kissed him, before pulling the burnet into his arms. The blond ran his fingers up and down Kaiba's back, watching the CEO slowly closing his eyes. "Relaxed already? It's only the first day."

Kaiba chuckled and snuggled into Jou's chest. "Then we have plenty of time to do this again." Jou watched as Kaiba slowly fell asleep. He rested his chin on top of Kaiba's head. He agreed. They had plenty of time to work through each of their fears.

The next morning Jou woke to fingers running along his chest and lips on his neck. "Couldn't wait for me to wake up first?"

Kaiba chuckled. "Not when I woke to see that." He slid his fingers up and down Jou's obvious erection. "Were you dreaming of me?"

"Damn straight. You were so slutty."

"Oh was I?" Jou opened his eyes when he felt Kaiba move away from him. Kaiba swung his hips as he walked over to one of the chairs and flipped it around. He spread his legs and sat on the chair backwards. "Something like this." Jou groaned. "Or maybe." Kaiba flipped the chair around and straddled the arm rest, giving Jou perfect view of his butt. Jou smirked at the teasing. They've teased each other like this before, but this was the first time they weren't afraid of letting it go beyond the point of no return. Kaiba got off the chair and walked over to Jou. He pushed the blond on his back and straddled his hips. "Maybe you're the horse that I rode on instead of my princess." Kaiba reached back for Jou's member before the blond could say anything and pushed himself down on it.

"Wait, Seto."

Kaiba moaned. "It's okay. I prepared myself while you were still sleeping."

Jou groaned, imagining the sight. "Next time you wait for me to wake. I want to see more of that slutty side of you."

Kaiba leaned down and kissed Jou. "You've seen that side of me plenty of times."

"Not doing that." Kaiba rolled his eyes and pulled himself up only to slam back down. Jou moaned Kaiba's name. "Okay, maybe later," he mumbled.

It didn't take long before they found that blissful release again. Kaiba moved his tired legs off Jou and lied down on his stomach next to him. "Breakfast should be out there by now," the burnet mumbled.

Jou glanced at Kaiba's back, watching it twitch slightly. "Is your back hurting?"

"A little," the CEO answered truthfully. Ever since he was whipped he had problems with his back muscles, especially if he was stressed or overworked.

Jou reached over for the massaging oil and coated his hands with it. The blond started with gentle strokes, coaxing the muscles to relaxing more. He learned how to do back massages after finding out that Kaiba was hiding his back pain from him. Jou pressed down harder using the palms of his hands until he felt all the knots in Kaiba's back loosen. Kaiba sighed. "That feels wonderful." Jou smiled and added a little more oil to his hand. "I think we might want to make this a habit after we have sex."

"Why?" Jou asked quickly, afraid that sex was hurting Kaiba more than he let on.

"I've never felt this relaxed before." Kaiba chuckled. "It's like every muscle in my body wants to fall asleep."

Jou laughed. "That could be arranged." Once he was finished, Jou let Kaiba sit up. "Feel better?"

"Much, thank you. How about some breakfast?"

"Nah, I was thinking about staying in bed the whole day."

Kaiba chuckled and pushed Jou away. It was as if once they were past their fears, they could truly be free to enjoy the pleasure they gave one another. "If you want another round, we need nutrition first."

"Fine," Jou laughed and reached for the robe Kaiba handed him. "Now wouldn't the best honeymoon be to never get out of bed."

"That's very tempting. We can sightsee later on if you want."

"The only sights I want to see are you in that bed."

Kaiba laughed and walked out of the bedroom. "Now who's the slutty one?"

"You one hundred percent. I was just trying to give you more ideas." Kaiba lifted the silver tray off the variety of breakfast foods. Jou was by his side in an instant. "On second thought, that smells really good."

Kaiba chuckled and picked up a sausage link. "I knew you were hungry."

Kaiba stuck his tongue out to lick around the top of the link. He pushed it in his mouth before pulling it back out again. He smirked at Jou before biting a piece of it off. "Keep doing that and I'll say to hell with breakfast." Kaiba chuckled and picked up a fork. He stabbed one of the fried potatoes and held it up to Jou. The blond wrapped his lips around the fork and took the piece into his mouth. He twirled his tongue along the fork before it was pulled out of his mouth. "Two can play that game, Seto."

Fire burned in Kaiba's eyes. "Is that a challenge?"

Jou smirked and picked up his own fork. "Maybe." Kaiba finished the sausage he had in his hand and looked around the dishes for something else he could tease the blond with.

The battle lasted for a long time before the food remained forgotten in the room and Jou had Kaiba bent over the back of the couch. Kaiba was exhausted after that last round, breathing heavily into the cushions of the couch. "I won," Kaiba laughed.

Jou chuckled and wrapped his robe back around himself, choosing not to argue with Kaiba about what he considered winning. He helped the tired burnet put his robe on before he pulled him into his lap to watch a movie. Kaiba was asleep before Jou knew it, making him wonder if Kaiba slept at all the night before. Jou heard a quiet knock before room service walked into the room. He nodded to the blond woman. Kaiba shifted slightly in his arms, but Jou massaged his arms to keep Kaiba asleep. Jou kissed the top of Kaiba's head. He thanked every god out there for giving them a second chance. The time Seth and Jono had together was short, but Jou planned on making up for it. He loved the beautiful man in his arms more than he could ever express, and he was sure Kaiba felt the same. "Happily ever after," Jou whispered and closed his eyes.

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There you have it. The ending I wanted it. I don't know what my next story will be. I used all the plot ideas I had left. It'll take me awhile to figure out another story. Thank you all for making it all the way to the end. Please review.

Angel Dove


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